LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Uu. . ^Mtnr^l If tx,- 



UNITED, STATES OF AMERICA. 



/ 











. i -llinuill 



LECTURES TO CHILDREN; 



FAMILIARLY 



ILLUSTRATING IMPORTANT TRUTH. 



By REV. JOHN TODD, D. D. 

AUTHOR OF THE STUDENT'S MANUAL, STORIES ON THE SHORTER CATECHISM, ETC. 




RATIONS. 



NORTHAMPTON: 
HOPKINS, BRIDGMAN, AND COMPANY, 

1853. 



€ 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S52, by 

Hopkins, Bridgman, & Company, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. 



CAMBRIDGE: 

METCALF AND COMPANY, 
PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. 



PREFACE TO THE ILLUSTRATED EDITION. 



This little work, after having passed through fifteen 
editions m this country, and we know not how many in 
England, after having been translated into French, Ger- 
man, Greek, and many more languages, printed in raised 
letters for the blind, and last of all, having been adopted 
as a school-book for the liberated slaves at Sierra Leone, 
is now sent forth by the publishers in a new dress, with 
the addition of new Lectures. The only reason why the 
number was not much larger is, that we wish to keep it 
a little book for little folks. A whole generation has passed 
from childhood into manhood since these Lectures were 
first printed ; and though it claims to be only a very hum- 
ble instrument of usefulness, yet the author, from testimony 
which he has already received from many and various quar- 
ters, would rather want renown and fame among men, than 
to be without his hope that the mission of this little work 
has been one of good to the lambs of Christ's flock. 

Pittsfield, October 1. 1852. 



PREFACE. 



In "rightly dividing the word," it is a difficult question to 
decide how and in what manner we can best meet the spirit 
of the command, " Feed my Lambs." That children are a 
very important class in every congregation, all admit ; that 
ministers owe them some peculiar duties, is equally plain ; 
and that they are a difficult part of the flock to feed, the ex- 
perience of every one, who has ever tried to do his duty to 
them, will testify. Says a profound thinker, and one of un- 
common knowledge of human nature,* " Nothing is easier 
than to talk to children ; but to talk to them as they ought to be 
talked to, is the very last effort of ability. A man must have 
a vigorous imagination. He must have extensive knowledge, 
to call in illustration from the four corners of the earth ; for 
he will make but little progress, but by illustration. It re- 
quires great genius, to throw the mind into the habits of 
children's minds. I aim at this, but I find it the utmost 
effort of ability. No sermon ever put my mind half so much 
on the stretch. I am surprised at nothing which Dr. Watts 

* Cecil. 



6 



Preface. 



did, but his Hymns for children. Other men could have 
written as well as he, in his other works ; but how he wrote 
these hymns, I know not." Happy that minister who can 
rightly divide the word of God to this portion of his flock. 
Should such an one take up this little volume, he will be 
very ready to excuse its defects, knowing how difficult it is 
to bring thought down to the comprehension of children. 

" It is an easy thing to move the passions : a rude, blunt, 
illiterate attack may do this. But to form one new figure 
for the conveyance of the truth to the mind, is a difficult 
thing. The world is under no small obligation to the man 
who forms such a figure." 

The best way of preaching to children is to have them 
entirely alone — not an adult in the house. You can then 
come down to them, and can interest them. The next best 
way is to have all the children in the centre of the house, 
and the congregation above and around them ; and then let 
the speaker forget, if he can, that any body is present besides 
the children. This has been my method, at the close of the 
second service on the Sabbath. The congregation have 
had permission to retire, but have, to an individual, prefer- 
red to remain. 



Preface. 



I have usually delivered one of my " little Sermons " 
once in three months, supposing this to be no more, certainly, 
than the share of the lambs. The following Lectures are a 
selection from such as I have thus delivered to the children 
under my care. My language and illustrations may seem 
familiar and common-place ; but I have tried to talk in 
such a manner, that, on pausing several times, and asking 
my little bright audience what point had just been stated and 
illustrated, the child who could only lisp should usually be 
able to throw his voice in with the rest in answering. 

I have thought that a System of Theology, embracing all 
that we usually mean by the term, and containing a full, 
clear and condensed view of the doctrines of the Bible, might 
be prepared for children to great advantage. Nor am I cer- 
tain that such a series of volumes might not be as useful and 
as interesting to common readers as to children. It ought 
to be a Text-book of the great Doctrines of the Bible, for 
Sabbath Schools and the young generally. That I have 
thought of preparing such a work, is saying little, since I 
have not done it. Possibly, should Providence spare my life, 
and such a work be needed, I may, hereafter, attempt it. 



8 



Preface. 



I have hoped that Parents and Sabbath School Teachers 
might receive some hints from this little volume which would 
aid them in the very difficult work of illustrating truth to 
children. For no teaching will do any good, unless so plain 
that it cannot be misunderstood, and so interesting that it 
cannot be forgotten. 

To the blessing of the Great Redeemer, I commend this 
little book, and the dear children who may read it. 



Northampton, May 20, 1834. 



Note. — The unexpected fact, that the Publisher requests a 
revised copy for a new edition, in less than three weeks after 
the first edition was out, encourages the Author to hope that he 
has not misjudged as to the usefulness of this little work. 

June 7, 1834. 



CONTENTS 



LECTURE I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 
Feed my lambs. — John 21. 15. 

Party in the grove. Food cut fine. What will be done 1 Bad apple. 
Indian book. Twenty stags. Think right. Mind always thinking. Ask 
questions. Two men in the Temple. Weeds in the garden. White 
rabbit. Is it sundown ? The regulator. What a little boy may be. The 
fairy and the diamond. A gem in the Saviour's crown. The rose trans- 
planted. Children's drawer. More hereafter. 

LECTURE II. 

HOW DO WE KNOW THERE IS ANY GOD ? 
No man hath seen God at any time. — John 1. 18. 

Why God called by this name. Paris and London. Did any body ever see 
God ? The wind and trees. Any body ever see pain ? Hunger. Love. 
Eyes put out and ears deaf. A child can think without eyes and ears. 
The watch in the case. Proof of God. The meeting-house. What the 
meeting-house made for. A meeting-house built by chance ! The silk- 
worm. The dead rabbit and birds. The cow and horse seeing a painting. 
The mind is glad. The body is a house for the soul. The new book. 
God made things. The rainbow, flowers, and fruits, made by God. God 
seen plainly. When ought a child to think of God ? The sincere wish. 



10 

Contents. 



LECTURE III. 

REPENTANCE FOR SIN. 

Tliey went out and preached that men should repent. — 

Mark 6. 12. 

A hard word used. The hard word explained. Nothing good without pay. 
Who need repentance. Christ's testimony. Great question. Two kinds 
of money. Two trees. Story. The sick father. Little boy's false- 
hood. The tender look. The dying father. Death arrived. The burial. 
Repentance at the grave. A few plain remarks. God not loved. The 
discontented boy — the storm— the Bible — his repentance. Who have 
sinned ? Stopping in sin. The Indian and his rum. Hands full. Con- 
clusion. 

LECTURE IV. 

ANGELS' JOY WHEN SINNERS REPENT. 

There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one 
sinner that repenteth. — Luke 15. 10. 

Who ever saw an angel ? What angels do. Many angels. How do they 
feel? Why they rejoice. First reason. Home. Whom have they seen ? 
The poor boy. What is an eye worth 1 What is the soul worth 1 The 
second reason. The sick child. The little boy drowning. The boy 
recovered. The brazen serpent. Three remarks. What people talk 
about. Piece of gold. What men love. Sleeping out of doors. Bitter 
medicine. The broken arm. The last remark. 

LECTURE V. 

WHAT FAITH IS, AND WHAT ITS USE IS. 
Without faith it is impossible to please him. — Heb. 11. 6. 

Lecture to be made plain. Different kinds of faith. The little girl who was 
generous. Faith rewarded, and made plain. The glass beads. Faith in a 



11 

Contents. 



father. The storm at sea. Faith in God. Casting bread on the waters. 
Sowing rice. The old man and his son. The house of the slave. The 
mother's faith. Faith in Christ. Falling into the river. Faith leads to 
obey God — to do good. The dying mother. Faith comforts us. The 
dead boy's lantern. 

LECTURE VI. 

GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 

Consider the lilies of the field, hoiv they grow ; they toil not, 
neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even 
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. 
—Matt. 6. 28, 29. 

How Christ preached. The rich man. God is very rich. Hogshead of gold. 
Many cattle. Servants. Little boy and his sister. Charge to angels, and 
beautiful illustration. The garden lily. The cold winter and the lily. 
The pond. Sermon by a lily. The poor heathen child. His lonely feel- 
ings. Comes to America. His death. Sailing of the missionaries. The 
hymn. The gospel received. The weeping mother. The ostrich in the 
wilderness. Sorrows to come. When will God be a friend ? 

LECTURE VII. 

JESUS CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 

Jesus — who, by the grace of God, should taste death for every 

man. — Heb. 2. 9. 

Figurative language. Fields smiling. The sea afraid. Meaning of the text. 
How they used to put people to death. Socrates 7 death. Long row of 
prisoners. Christ drinking the cup of poison. Children of Israel. The 
court-house. The young prisoner. His plea. His home. His family. 
The parting. Killing his parents. The compassionate judge. The par- 
don. Christ died for us. All saved ? The hospital. The house for all 
the blind. Offered to all. A question answered. Light for all. Water 



12 

Contents. 



for all. Salvation of Christ free. A thing to be remembered. The story 
of the slave. The good man. The slave bought. Ingratitude. Ail men 
slaves. John Howard. Four things to be done. 

LECTURE VIII. 

CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US. 
He ever liveth to make intercession. — Heb. 7. 25. 

The name of Washington. We all want a friend. The poor Indian and his 
child. Christ is such a friend as we need. Children's troubles. The 
three friends. The real friend. Story applied. Christ is the real friend. 
When most needed. The just king and his laws. Christ's manner of in- 
terceding. High treason. The wife and ten children. The pardon. How 
is Christ's intercession different ? The child in prison. The two brothers. 
Four things in Christ. He is worthy. He knows our wants. Ever lives. 
Never changes. The waters quench not his love. 

LECTURE IX. 
GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 

Every one of us shall give account of himself to God. — Rom. 

14. 12. 

Plain text. The stranger. His aecount of himself. How different from the 
account to God. The merchant. Account of one of these boys. Fields, 
horses, and plants, called to account. The plant producing no flower. How 
a father feels. The house burned. The soul poisoned. The father's feel- 
ings over a murdered child. Every one must give account. How can 
children sin ? How much does a child sin 1 The little rattlesnake. 
What murder is. Anger. The Bible destroyed. The bones broken. 
The Sabbath lost. The child killing people. Conscience. The fruit- 
trees. The broken bowl. Three directions. The Roman emperor. 



13 

Contents. 



LECTURE X. 

GREAT EVENTS HANG ON LITTLE THINGS. 
A certain man drew a bow at a venture. — 1 Kings 22. 34. 

The man and his bow and arrow. What an arrow can do. The subject 
stated. The ship-yard. The wormy stick. The leaky ship. The result. 
The child and the acorn. The oak. The result. The light-house re- 
moved. A little mistake. Ship and lives lost. Result. Great fires in 
the forest. Little boy playing with fire. The spark caught. The mother 
of Mohammed. The consequence. How it is with these children. 
What the subject teaches. The child did not tell a lie. The tongue. 
Company. Every day. The little stream. The last thing taught by this 
subject. 

LECTURE XI. 

FRAGMENTS ALL TO BE SAVED. 

Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.— 

John 6. 12. 

The goldsmith's shop. The mountains weighed. The stars named. The 
little gleaners. Christ feeding the multitude. Wrong to waste things. 
Wrong to waste money. The deep river. Brimstone matches. The ex- 
pensive drink. Hamilton's duel. Life wasted. The sailor's dream. The 
ring. The ring lost. Burning mountains. The ring recovered. The 
dream supposed to be true and real. Limbs lost. The Bible wasted. 
The mind ruined. Six things seen. The soul — the soul. 

LECTURE XII. 

THE SABBATH TO BE KEPT HOLY. 
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. — Ex. 20. 8. 

Picture-books. Parables of Christ. A new parable. The offer. The 
wreck of the ship. The Life-Boat. The life-boat in use. The parable 



14 

Contents. 



explained. The foolish excuses. Who would be a thief? The poor 
beggar. The house broken open. Little thieves. What makes people 
poor. A strong reason. Story by the author. Duty put off. The school 
not together. The foolish superstition. What makes a man stupid ? 
The corpse. Mill going on the Sabbath. Little boy crushed by the wheel. 
Sad thoughts. Scene remembered. Instruction. Poetry. Conclusion. 

LECTURE XIII. 

THE GRAVE LOSING ITS VICTORY. 
grave, where is thy victory ? — 1 Cor. 15. 55. 

Vapor of morning. Garden-flowers. What is a buoy ? The drowning man 
clinging to the buoy. Morning after the storm. Who must die. The 
twins. Beautiful poetry. Who can die happy 1 My sister's grave — and 
the two little boys. Reflections in a grave-yard. The soul lives after the 
body dies. The humming-bird. The island. The adventurer— his re- 
turn — his tidings — his death. Meaning of the story. The Christian's 
death. Angels' conversation. Beautiful description of heaven. Con- 
clusion. 

LECTURE XIV. 

HEAVEN. 
In the beginning God created the heaven. — Genesis 1. 1. 

Shape of the earth. Inside of the world. High chimneys. Creating and 
forming things. Light 1 first made. The three heavens. First heaven. 
Second and third heavens. Guiding the stars. Idea of the third heaven. 
Beautiful things. What a throne will be. Society of heaven. How they 
look in heaven. Why the beautiful things of earth not to be saved. Our 
friends. Is heaven a place ? 



LECTURES TO CHILDREN. 



LECTURE I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 
Feed my lambs. — John 21. 15. 

Contents. — Party in the grove. Food cut fine. What will be done ? Bad 
apple. Indian book. Twenty stags. Think right. Mind always think- 
ing. Ask questions. Two men in the Temple. Weeds in the garden. 
White rabbit. Is it sundown 1 The regulator. What a little boy may 
be. The fairy and the diamond. A gem in the Saviour's crown. The 
rose transplanted. Children's drawer. More hereafter. 

Children, suppose now that we and a great 
many more children were met in a beautiful 
grove on a bright, summer day. For some hours 
we ramble over the hills and climb the rocks, 
pluck the flowers around us and listen to the 
singing of the birds. We then come together in 
a very shady spot, where there is a cool spring of 
pure water. Here we find a long table spread 
and loaded with all manner of good things to eat. 



16 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

Food cut fine. 

Suppose, too, that I am the only grown-up person 
with all these children, and that I am wishing to 
see that they all have a good share of the things 
to eat. Should I do wrong, or do right, to go 
round and cut the bread and the meat for each 
child, and cut it so fine that each one could eat 
with comfort ? " Right, 5 ' you say, I should do 
right, and I ought to cut the meat very fine so 
that all might have a share. Well, then, when 
I come to feed the minds of children, instead of 
their mouths, ought I not to cut the food very 
fine ? I mean, ought I not to speak very plain, 
and to use such words as each child can under- 
stand ? " Yes," you say, " you should be very 
plain and easy to be understood." This, then, 
is the reason why I shall talk so plain, that every 
child, even that very little girl who has but just 
learned to read, can know what I mean. 

You know, children, that, when you see a man 
very busy with his tools, you think he is making 
something. You may not be able to see what it 



Lect. 1.] INTRODUCTORY. 17 

What will be done ? 

is, but the timber, and the chips cut off, and the 
tools about, and the man at hard work, all show 
you that he wishes to make something. So if 
you had seen me when I took the sheet of pa- 
per out of my drawer, and began to write this 
little book of Lectures, you would have supposed 
I had something which I wish to bring about. 
And so I have. There are four things I w 7 ish to 
do by these Lectures, — all for your good, and all 
which will be done, if you will help me. Let me 
talk a few minutes about each of these four things. 

1. / wish to make you love to read. 

Cattle, birds, and dogs cannot read. They 
have good eyes, and good ears, and good mouths 
and tongues, and yet they cannot read. Not so 
the child. He is created in the image and like- 
ness of God, and no wonder he can read. But 
you might go through an orchard that had a 
hundred trees in it, and yet not find more than a 
single tree that bore good fruit. So you might 

see a whole book-case filled with books, and not 

2 



18 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

Bad apple. 

more than one or two good books among them 
all. But a bad book is not like a bad apple. 
The bad apple tastes bad the moment you bite 
it ; but a bad book, like some poisonous fruits, 
may be pleasant while you eat it, but hurts you 
afterwards. 

How many pure and beautiful things may we 
read in a single little book ! A small box may 
contain a great many choice jewels ! For my 
part, when a child, and ever since, I have loved 
to meet a book, and ahvays feel that I have met 
a friend. Once, when in the deep wilderness, 1 
was on a river in a little boat. It was very far 
from any body. When we came to a place where 
the river was full of rocks, and where the water 
ran and dashed against the rocks, we knew we 
must carry the boat round through woods. Here 
we found a blind little path, where the Indians 
used to carry their canoes. We found that many 
years ago they had written a small book, contain- 
ing a history of their travels and hunting, and 




VI ^iMSnWlP^M 



Vs 



Lect. 1.] INTRODUCTORY. 21 

Indian book. Twenty stags. 

left it here ! And what kind of a book do you 
suppose it was ? It was a part of a cedar hewn 
off, and then on the standing tree, with a piece 
of charcoal, they had made a picture of a canoe, 
with her front pointed down the river, to show 
which way they w 7 ent. In the canoe was the 
picture of two Indians, each with a paddle in his 
hand, and a dog between them ; then below was 
a picture of a deer's head with great branching 
horns, to show that they had been hunting deer, 
and the number 20, to show that they had killed 
twenty bucks or stags in their hunt. This was 
the Indian book. But how little did it teach us ! 
It showed that some time, a long time ago, two 
Indians had passed that way with their dog, and 
that in their hunt they had killed twenty stags. 
But it told us not w T ho they were, where they had 
been, where going, or any valuable information. 
In a wilderness it was pleasant to read even such 
a poor book as that, but how much better to have 
good printed books full of good reading ! Learn 



22 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. I. 

Think right. 

to love to read when a child, and you will have 
pleasures all the way through life. You will 
never find a rainy day tedious, nor a journey 
lonely, nor even a sick bed wearisome, if you 
can read. Books contain the best thoughts that 
men ever had, and when we open them, though 
the authors may be dead, yet we seem to hear 
their voices coming to us kind and pleasant, like 
far-off music at evening twilight. 

2. / wish to teach you to think right. 

Children, have you never found a boy or a girl 
alone, talking to himself, or herself? And if you 
have, did you not notice that they stopped and 
were ashamed when discovered ? The reason 
was, that they w r ere talking out their thoughts 
just as they rose up in the mind, and they knew 
these thoughts were foolish. If they had been 
repeating over the ten commandments, or even 
the multiplication table, they would not have felt 
ashamed. Now the mind of every child is always 
thinking ; but the thoughts are not of any value, 



Lect. 1 ] INTRODUCTORY. 23 

Mind always thinking. 

— they do not think to any good purpose. What 
I wish is, to teach you to think that which is of 
some use. You know a garden will bear weeds 
in great plenty, if we are not careful. It will 
soon all run to waste, if left to itself. So the 
mind will run to waste if not taught to think right. 
This is the reason why I ask you questions, and 
explain things, perhaps tell you little stories, and 
make comparisons, — so that you may learn to 
think right. 

If a man thinks wrong about God, or the Bi- 
ble, he will do wrong. If he thinks that God 
cares not what a man thinks, or feels, or says, or 
does, he will not care himself. If he thinks that 
the Bible can teach him nothing good, he will not 
read it. If he thinks he may be selfish and live 
only for himself, he will be likely to do so. Or 
if a man learns to let his thoughts run loose like 
a horse without bridle or halter, like the horse 
they will be of no use. I want you to be able to 
think quick, and hard, and correctly. Then you 



24 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

Ask questions. Two men in the Temple. 

will not only understand such books as you read, 
but will enjoy them, and relish them the more if 
they contain a great deal to make you think. A 
boy sometimes goes away from home, and visits a 
factory, or a ship, or a coal-mine, or some such 
thing. He sees many new things. He remem- 
bers them all, and goes home and talks about 
them and asks questions about them. Just so I 
want you should learn to notice the new thoughts 
you find in this little book, and then that you talk 
them over, and ask questions about them till you 
understand them fully. Will you try to do it ? 

5. / icant to teach you to feel right. 

Did you ever read a little story which Christ 
told of two men who went up to the great Tem- 
ple at Jerusalem to pray ? The story is very 
beautiful. One of them felt that he was good, 
and that he had nothing to do but to thank God 
that he was so much better than other people. 
" God," says he, " I thank thee that I am not as 
other men ! " The other man felt that he was a 



Lect. 1.] INTRODUCTORY. 25 

Weeds in the garden. 

poor, sinful creature. So he looked on the ground, 
and never lifted up his eyes, and struck his breast, 
and stood awav off in a corner and said, " God 
be merciful to me a sinner." (Luke 18. 13.) 
Now these men both felt, — but one felt right and 
the other wrong, and God looked upon them very 
differently. He blessed the humble man, and let 
the other go away in his pride and folly. So he 
always does. 

You know, children, that if a man neglects his 
garden, and does not sow good seed and take care 
of it, the garden w r ill shortly be covered with 
weeds. Weeds grow r naturally, but vines and 
good roots do not. Just so will wrong feelings 
come in and grow 7 up in the heart of a child, un- 
less he takes pains to feel right. You must know 
when you feel right, and when you feel wrong. 
Perhaps you think you cannot tell. But let us 
see. Suppose a child is unwilling to obey his 
parents, and frets when told to do any thing, and 
either does not do it, or goes murmuring, — does 



26 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

White rabbit. Is it sundown ? 

he feel right or wrong ? Suppose he wants what 
his parents feel will not be good for him, or what 
they cannot afford to buy, and then he cries and 
frets, — does he feel right or wrong? Suppose a 
little boy sees another boy have a toy, or a white 
rabbit, and he wishes he had it, and wishes he 
could steal it and have nobody know it, — -does he 
feel right or wrong ? A little boy once was told 
that lie must not play because it was the Sabbath. 
He asked, When will the Sabbath end ? He was 
told, not till the sun was down. Then he thought, 
he wished the sun was down and the Sabbath gone, 
and he wished that God would not make any Sab- 
bath, and he wished that he could go out and play 
and nobody know it, — did he feel right or wrong? 
Now I want you to feel right at all times, in 
all places, and on all subjects. The reasons are 
three ; — first, it will make you very happy ; sec- 
ondly, it will make others very happy; and, third- 
ly, it will please God. Are not these reasons plain 
ones and good ones ? 



Lect. 1.] INTRODUCTORY. 27 

The regulator. 

4. / wish to have you do right. 

Did you ever see the inside of a watch, chil- 
dren ? Well, there are wheels and little posts, 
and the like, and, among other things, there is a 
little fine spring, so small that it looks like a hair 
curled up. This little spring is called the regu- 
lator, because it regulates the watch. If it be 
drawn too tight, the watch goes too slow. If it 
be too loose, the watch goes too fast. It wants 
to be just right. The regulator wants to be reg- 
ulated. And there is in each of you something 
that does the work of that little spring. It is 
called the conscience; that which tells us when 
we do right and when we do wrong. The con- 
science is the regulator. But how shall we know 
when that is right ? I reply, by the Bible ; that 
will always tell us whether our conscience is too 
tight or too loose. A good book, like the Bible, 
will help you to have your conscience regulated 
and right; and then you will act right, and do 
right. 



28 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

What a little boy may be. 

I have seen little bojs at work in the corn- 
field, or in the garden, or at school. I could not 
tell what they would become, or what they would 
do, in after life. But I have known some of them 
to grow up to be good and valuable farmers, some 
mechanics, some physicians, and some of them 
ministers of the Gospel. When I see a child, I 
never know what he will become ; but I know 
that he may become an angel in God's kingdom 
for ever, if he will be good and do good. And 
though I may not know the child that reads this 
little book, — perhaps shall never see him in this 
world, — yet I hope I shall hereafter see him in 
God's holy kingdom, with a crown of life on his 
head and a harp of gold in his hand. 

I have somewhere read the story of a fairy to 
whom was given a rough-looking stone to polish. 
She went to work and turned it over and over, 
and rubbed it and polished it, till it began to be 
smooth, then to be bright, and then to sparkle like 
fire, till at last from the rough stone she polished 



Lect. 1.] INTRODUCTORY. 29 

The fairy and the diamond. 

and brought out a diamond such as would delight 
any king to wear in his crown. Had any one 
seen the fairy when she first began, he might have 
thought she was doing a useless and a foolish 
thing ; but who would not like to own such a 
gem after it is once polished ? The little child is 
like that rough stone. It might seem to some that 
it is of little consequence whether he has any 
books, or what books they are ; but I know that 
every child may become like a polished diamond 
in the crown of the Lord Jesus Christ, — to be 
beautiful and glorious for ever. If I can do any 
thing towards polishing such a gem, ought I not 
to be anxious to do it ? And if I may do any 
part of this work by these Lectures, shall I not 
have reason to rejoice for ever ? These gems are 
to be among the glory of Jesus Christ in the day 
when he is crowned. 

" A babe into existence came, 
A feeble, helpless, suffering frame ; 



30 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

A gem in the Saviour's crown. 

It breathed below a little while, 
Then vanished like a tear, a smile, 
That springs and falls, that peers and parts, 
The joy, the grief, of loving hearts. 
The grave received the body dead, 
Where all that live must lay their head. 
Sank then the soul to dust and gloom, 
Worms and corruption, in the tomb ? 
No ! in ' the rainbow round the throne,' 
Caught up to paradise, it shone, 
And still it shines, until the day 
When heaven and earth shall pass away, 
And those that sleep in Jesus here 
With him in glory shall appear ; 
Then will that soul and body meet, 
And, when his jewels are complete, 
'Midst countless millions, form a gem 
In the Redeemer's diadem ! " 

In the Bible, the fairest who die are called 
flowers ; and I have often looked into the coffin 
of the fair and beautiful child, and thought of 
imagery. I have often thought that Christ some- 
times treats the little child as a gardener would 



Lect. 1.] INTRODUCTORY. 31 

The rose transplanted. Children's drawer. 

a rose. The little, beautiful rose hangs on its frail 
stem on the hill-side. The storm has beaten it 
down into the dirt, and it is soiled and injured. 
The gardener takes hold of it, shakes off the dust, 
and then pulls it up and transplants it into his 
garden, where he can nurse it, and shelter it, and 
cause it to grow and bloom. Thus heaven is 
called Paradise in the Bible, — as if it w T ere a most 
beautiful garden, — where undying flowers shall 
blossom for ever. And thus Christ often seems 
to say to the beautiful little child, " Poor one J 
the storms and the frosts and winds are too rough 
for thee here, — and so I will take thee up and 
place thee in my own garden above, where thou 
mayest live and bloom for ever and ever!" Shall 
I not, then, try to do what I can to make these 
flowers worthy the notice and the love of the great 
Redeemer ? 

Sometimes, when I have done my day's work, 
I look into a particular drawer in which I keep 
such papers as I have begun to write something on 



32 INTRODUCTORY. [Lect. 1. 

More hereafter. 

to be printed ; and when I see a paper on which 
I have begun to write for children, I say to my- 
self, " See there ! I have not written a word for 
children for a long time. Perhaps, if I should 
write, there is some little boy or some little girl, 
it may be far away among the mountains, or on 
the smooth prairie of the West, or in the crowded 
city, — some bright little child, — who would read 
what I should write, and thus I might speak to 
him though far away, and though I shall never 
see him ! And perhaps what I shall say would 
be read and thought of when I am dead and 
gone, and thus I may be doing good for a long 
time to come ! " And then I shut the drawer and 
feel sorry that I have done no more for my little 
readers, and say to myself, " I will do more here- 
after ! " And I pray that I may not only do so, 
but that I may so write that I shall meet many 
of my little friends in heaven, and with them 
praise the Saviour for ever and ever! Amen. 



33 



LECTURE II. 

HOW DO WE KNOW THERE IS ANY GOD ? 

No man hath seen God at any time. — John 1. 18. 

Contents. — Why God called by this name. Paris and London. Did any 
body ever see God 2 The wind and trees. Any body ever see pain 1 
Hunger. Love. Eyes put out and ears deaf. A child can think without 
eyes and ears. The watch in the case. Proof of God. The meeting- 
house. What the meeting-house made for. A meeting-house built by 
chance! The silk-worm. The dead rabbit and birds. The cow and 
horse seeing a painting. The mind is glad. The body is a house for the 
soul. The new book. God made things. The rainbow, flowers and 
fruits, made by God. God seen plainly. When ought a child to think of 
God. The sincere wish. 

Children have heard a great deal said about 

God. Our forefathers, a great while ago, used 

to call him "the Good" We shorten the word a 

little, and call him God; but it means the same 

thing, — good. And they gave him that name be- 
3 



o 



4 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 



Paris and London. Did any body ever see God ? The wind and trees. 

cause he is so good to men. But 1 am going to 
ask these children a question. How do you know- 
there is any God? Have you ever seen him? 
No; for " no man hath seen God at any time. 5 ' 

Are we sure there are things in the world 
which we never saw ? Yes, a great many. You 
never saw Paris, or London ; and yet you know 
there are such places. How do you know ? You 
know because others have been there and seen 
them. 

Now, suppose nobody had ever seen those cit- 
ies, could you know there were such cities ? No. 
How, then, do you know there is any God ? Is it 
because the men who wrote the Bible say there is 
a God ? But how do they know ? They never saw 
God. Can w T e believe there is any thing which 
nobody ever saw ? Yes, a great many things. 

Go to the window some cold day. Do you 
see the trees rocking, and the limbs swinging and 
bending, and the leaves all flying about ? What 



Leci. ?.] THERE IS A GOD. 35 

Any body ever see pain ? Hunger. Love. 

makes them do so ? Can any of you tell ? Yes, 
you all know, it is the wind, blowing the trees. 
But can you see the wind ? No, but every body 
knows there is such a thing as the wind, though 
we cannot see it. 

Did you ever feel sick, so as to take medicine, 
and feel in great pain ? Yes. I suppose you all 
have. But which of these children ever saiv the 
pain ? Did you hear it ? No. Did you smell it ? 
No. And you know there is such a thing as pain, 
though we cannot see it. 

You all know there is such a thing as hunger. 
How do you know ? You never saw it, nor heard 
it, nor smelt it ; but you felt it. 

Suppose I should now say there is no such 
thing in the world as love. Would it be true ? 
No. But why not ? You never saw love. No, 
but you love your parents, and know by your 
feelings that there is such a thing as love, though 
you never saw it. 



36 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. % 



Eyes put out and ears deaf. A chidd can think without eyes or ears. 

Suppose one of these children should have 
both of his eyes put out, and be a blind little 
boy. He could still think. He could sit down 
and think how his home looked, how his father 
and mother looked. Suppose he should then lose 
his hearing so as to be deaf. He could still 
think how the voice of his father and mother used 
to sound, when they spake pleasantly to him. 
Suppose he were then to lose his taste, so that he 
could not taste sweet things from sour. He could 
then sit down and think how food and fruit used 
to taste, and how he used to love them. Suppose, 
next, he were to lose his feeling, so as to be 
numb and cold. He could then think how things 
used to feel ; how an orange felt round, and a book 
felt flat. 

Yes, and if he were to lose eyes, and ears, 
and taste, and feeling, and smelling, all at once, 
he could still tell us how things used to be. The 
sun used to look bright and round, and so did the 



Lect. 2,] THERE IS A GOD. 37 

The watch in the case. Proof of God. 

moon ; the rose and the pink used to smell sweet- 
ly, the flute to sound pleasantly, the honey to 
taste sweet, and the ice to feel cold. He could 
think all about these things. 

Now, what is it that thinks ? It is the soul, — 
the soul within you. How do you know that a 
watch-case has any watch in it? Because you 
hear it tick, and see the pointers move. And just 
so you know your body has a soul in it, because 
it thinks, and moves your hand, and your eye, just 
as the watch within the case moves the pointers. 
But nobody ever saw the soul. And yet we 
know we have a soul, because we see it do things. 
When you feel happy, the soul makes the face 
laugh; when the soul feels bad, it shows itself 
through the face, and perhaps makes the face cry. 
When you feel wicked, it makes you cross, and 
speak wicked words, and disobey your parents, 
and disobey God. 

Now, it is in just such ways we know there is 



38 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 



Meetincr-house. What the meeting-house made for ? 



a God. Just attend to what I am going to say, 
and see if I do not make it plain, and prove it all 
out to you, that there is a God, because we see 
that he does things. 

You see this meeting-house. You see it is 
full of things which were planned out, and every 
thing in it planned for some use. Now, look. 
This pulpit with its stairs, and window, and seat — 
for what are they designed ? Why, the window is 
to let the light in, the seat for the preacher to sit 
down, and the stairs so that he can get into it ; 
and this place where I stand, that he may stand 
up so high as to be seen by all in the house. 
Those seats or pews were made for you to sit in, 
during the sermon, and all done off and numbered, 
so that each family might have their own pew, 
and know it. Those windows were made to let 
the light in ; those posts to hold up the gallery, so 
that it might not fall on those who sit under it. 
Those doors are made to shut the noise and the 



Lect. 2.] THERE IS A GOD. 39 

A meeting-house built by chance ! 

cold out, and those stoves to warm the house in 
winter, and the long pipes to carry off the smoke. 
That front gallery is for the singers to sit in and 
sing God's praises. Look now, and see if you 
can find any thing to play with. No. There is 
nothing. Of course, this house was not made to 
play in. See if you can see any thing to sleep 
on — any couch, or bed ? No, none. Of course, 
this house was not made to sleep in. It is all 
planned to be a place in which to worship God. 

Suppose, now, I should tell you this house was 
never built by any body ! It all grew up by chance, 
just as it is! The brick for the walls on the 
outside, and the roof on the top, grew just so, 
making this great square room, with its pews, and 
pulpit, and windows, and stoves, and every thing 
just as it is ! It all grew so by chance ! Could you 
believe this ? No, you could not believe it. Why, 
you would say, this house must be built by 
somebody. True. True. But tell me, did you 



40 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 

The silk-worm. 

ever see the man who made these bricks, and 
spread these walls? No. Did you see the 
carpenter who built these pews, and pulpit, and 
doors, and windows ? No. Did you ever see the 
glass-maker who melted the sand and made this 
glass? No. Did you ever see the silk-weaver 
who wove this pulpit-curtain ? No. Or the man 
who hammered out the iron and made those 
pipes? No, no. You never did, and yet you 
know that all these lived, because you see what 
they have done. And this is good proof. 

And it is in just such ways that we know there 
is a God ; for he made the clay, which had only 
to be altered by the fire, and it is brick. He 
made the wood, which has only to be altered in 
its shape, and it becomes pews and seats. He 
made the iron, which had only to have its shape 
altered by melting, and it is these stoves. The 
sand which he made has only to be melted,, 
and it becomes glass. He made the little 



Lect. 2.] THERE IS A GOD. 43 

The dead rabbit and birds. The cow and horse seeing- a painting-. 

worm which spun the silk of which this cushion 
was made. And he made the light to shine 
through these windows, and your eyes to see it 
after it comes in, and your ears to hear voices and 
sounds. He made that mind of yours, so that it 
can understand what I say, and your memory so 
that you can lay it up and keep it, and talk it over 
after you go home. 

I once saw a painting of a dead rabbit and 
some large birds. They looked just as if they 
were a real rabbit and real birds ; and a little dog, 
coming in, jumped up to catch them in his mouth, 
thinking they were real. Now, could any one 
doubt but a painter had been there, who made that 
picture ? No. Nor could any one doubt but there 
is a God, who made the rabbit and the birds. 

A painter once painted a large sheaf of wheat 
for a baker's sign. A cow came up, and mistook 
it for a real sheaf, and tried to eat it. And another 
painter painted a horse which looked so natural, 



44 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 

The mind is glad. The body is a house for the soul, 

that another horse came up, and neighed to it, 
thinking it was a real horse. Suppose you had 
seen these pictures, and nobody near them ; 
would you not at once say, Somebody must 
have made those pictures ? Yes ; and when you 
see the wheat in the field, and the horse in the 
street, you know that somebody made them ; and 
that somebody is God. 

Why do you love to hear a new and curious 
story ? Is the ear pleased ? No. The ear feels 
no pleasure. Why do you love to see something 
that is new, and curious, and strange ? Is your eye 
made glad ? No. The eye knows nothing about 
it. But your mind feels glad, when you hear a 
pleasant story, or sweet music, and when you see 
a new sight. The mind is glad. But how came 
that curious mind within you ? Did it come there 
by chance ? No, no more than this house came 
here by chance. The body is the house. The 
soul lives in it ; and God has made the ear to let 



Lect. 2.] THERE IS A GOD. 45 

The body is a house for the soul. 

sounds into the soul ; and the eye, so that light 
may go in as through a window ; and the tongue, 
so that the soul may speak out and tell its feel- 
ings ; and the feet to carry it about any where ; 
and the hands to be servants, and do any thing the 
soul wants done. And then the body needs food, 
and God has made it, the fire to cook it, and the 
teeth to chew it. It needs drink, and so he has 
made water, and the cow to give milk. It gets 
sick, and so he has made medicines to cure it. It 
needs clothes, and so he has made the cotton grow 
out of the ground, the leather on the ox, the wool 
on the back of the sheep, and the worm to spin 
the silk. It needs tools, and so he has made the 
iron and lead, the silver and the gold, and the 
wood. It needs to be warm, and so he has made 
and hung up the sun like a great fire to pour down 
his light and heat. The world is full of what 
God has done. Can you not see his doings every 
where ? 



46 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 

Who made the new book ? God made thing's. 

You see this little book in my hand. It is full 
of leaves, and maps, and printing. It is a Testa- 
ment. Here are the chapters and verses all mark- 
ed out plainly and correctly. Every word and 
every letter is right. Now, you never saw the 
man who made this paper, nor the man who put 
up these types, nor the man who pressed the paper 
on the types so exactly, nor the man who bound 
it all up in this bright, red leather. And yet you 
know that such men were alive a short time since ; 
for the book was printed this year. You never 
will see these men, and yet you know they are 
alive somewhere. 

Just so you know that God lives. For he made 
the cotton, which is here altered into paper ; he 
made the oil and the w r ood, which are burned to 
make this ink ; he made the skin of sheep, which is 
dressed, and colored, and is here in the shape of 
the morocco binding. 

God knew you would love to see the light, and 



Lect. 2.] THERE IS A GOD. 47 

The rainbow, flowers and fruit made by God. 

so he made the sun and the moon. He knew you 
would love to see beautiful things, and so he 
painted the rainbow in the dark clouds, and 
spread the green grass over the ground, and pen- 
cilled the flowers, and planted the trees, and hung 
apples on one tree, and plums on another, and 
grapes on the vine. He knew you would love to 
hear sweet sounds, and so he gave your parents a 
pleasant voice, and filled the air with little birds, 
whose great business is to sing. He knew you 
would want houses and fires, and so he made the 
wood and the clay for the brick. He knew you 
w T ould have reason, and yet not enough to lead you 
to heaven, and so he made the Bible. He knew 
you w T ould have wicked hearts, and so he has 
given you the Sabbath, and the Saviour, and the 
Holy Spirit, to help you to be good. He knew 
you would want to live forever, and so he has 
made heaven, where you may live forever, and 
never die, if you are good and holy. 



48 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 

God seen plainly. Poetry describes God. 

Who does not see that the world is full of the 
things that God has done ? I am sure I can no 
more doubt it than I can doubt that little boy to 
have eyes, when I see them both open and look- 
ing at me. I am sure I have no doubt that these 
children have souls, though I never saw their 
souls ; for I can see their eyes, and hands and 
limbs moved by their souls. 

And now, dear children, you see it all proved 
out to you that there is a great and glorious Being 
around you, always doing you good, whose name 
is God. Yes, 

i( There is an unseen Power around, 
Existing in the silent air : 
Where treadeth man, where space is found, 
Unheard, unknown, that Power is there. 

When sinks the pious Christian's soul, 
And scenes of horror daunt his eye, 

He hears it whispered through the air, 
A Power of mercy still is nigh. 



Lect. 2.] THERE IS A GOD. 49 

When ought children to think of God ? 

The Power that watches, guides, defends, 

Till man becomes a lifeless sod, 
Till earth is nought, — nought earthly friends, — 

That omnipresent Power — is God." 

Oughi not these children to think of God? 
To think of him when you go to bed at night, for 
he it is who has kept you safe and done you good 
all the day long, and then thank him for his good- 
ness ? Think of him in the morning, for it is he 
who has kept you, given you sleep and awaked 
you, and lifted up the great sun to shine upon you. 
Oh, pray that he will keep you from sinning all the 
day. You ought to think of him when you hear 
the pleasant and kind voice of your parents, for it 
is God who gave you these parents ; think of him 
when you are happy, for it is he who makes you 
happy. Think of him when you have sinned, or 
are about to sin, for he sees vou. Think of 
him when you are sick, for he only can make you 
well, and keep you from being sick. Think of 
4 



50 THERE IS A GOD. [Lect. 2. 

The sincere wish. 

him on the Sabbath, for he gave it to you to fit 
you for heaven. Yes, he gave you every good 
thing you ever had, or ever can have, and even 
gave his dear Son to die for us. 

And now let me stop, after looking at each 
child before me, and repeating to each one this 
sincere wish of my heart — 

" Oh, be thy wealth an upright heart ; 

Thy strength, the sufferer's stay ; 
Thy earthly choice, the better part, 

Which cannot fade away : 
Thy zeal for Christ, a quenchless fire ; 

Thy friends, the men of peace ; 
Thy heritage, an angel's lyre, 

When earthly changes cease." Amen. 



L EC TURE III. 

REPENTANCE FOR SIN. 

They went out and preached that men should repent. — Mark 6. 12. 

Contents. — A hard word used. The hard word explained. Nothing good 
without pay. Who need repentance. Christ's testimony. Great question. 
Two kinds of money. Two trees. Story. The sick father. Little 
boy's falsehood. The tender look. The dying father. Death arrived. The 
burial. Repentance at the grave. A few plain remarks. God not loved. 
The discontented boy — the storm — the Bible — his repentance. Who have 
sinned ? Stopping in sin. The Indian and his rum. Hands full. Conclusion. 

Children, I am going to use a hard word, and 
I must tell you what it means. The word is con- 
ditions. I would not use it if I did not think 1 
could make it easy. Suppose a little child goes 
to school, and wants a new book. Her mother 
says, " Well, Mary, if you will be perfect in your 
lessons and behavior for two whole weeks, I will 
buy the book for you." This is a condition. A 
little boy asks his father to let him ride. He tells 
him he may ride with him to-morrow, on the con- 



52 REPEINTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

The hard word explained. 

dition, that he governs his temper and is a good 
boy all day to-day. 

So every good thing in this world has some 
such condition, and for every thing we have some- 
thing to do. I will only name four things which 
have such conditions. 

1. God has so ordered things, that any child 
shall grow up greatly beloved and respected, on 
condition that he is kind and obedient to his par- 
ents and teachers, and kind and affectionate to 
every body. 

2. God has so ordered things, that a man may 
be learned, on condition that he studies and reads, 
and wastes no time. 

3. God has so ordered things, that medicine 
will frequently cure the sick man. But the con- 
dition is, that it must be carefully taken. 

4. God has so ordered things, that any body 
may know all about God, and heaven, on condi- 
tion, that he faithfully reads the Bible, and prays 



Lect. 3] REPENT 4NCE. 53 

Nothing- good without pay. Who need repentance. 

to God for the Holy Spirit, and obeys God in 
every thing. 

It is just so with every thing. Who would not 
laugh at the farmer who expected to raise corn, 
except on the condition that he plant, and hoe, and 
plant the right seed, and at the right time ? That 
little boy cannot see his top spin round, except on 
a condition — that he do something to make it go. 
That little girl, just beginning to talk, cannot learn 
a single letter, or take a single stitch with her 
needle, except on condition that she try to learn. 
No. You cannot rear a single beautiful flower so 
as to get one single blossom, without a condition. 

Now, the greatest good that God ever gave to 
us, is that eternal life which Christ bought for us 
by his own blood. No man ever became holy 
without a condition for him to fulfil. No man 
ever went to heaven without repentance. Job 
could not. David could not. Peter, and Paul, and 
John, could not. Not one of that great multitude 



54 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

Christ's testimony. Two kinds of money. 

who are now in heaven, went there without re- 
pentance. Christ preached this condition, and so 
did the apostles; so has every true preacher since. 
Not one sinner in this house, not one in this place, 
not one in this world, will ever go to heaven with- 
out repentance. If we knew just how many, and 
who would repent of sin, we should know just 
how many, and who would go to heaven. All 
must repent. Christ says, " Except ye repent, ye 
shall all likewise perish." So Paul says, " God 
now commandeth all men every where to repent." 
You cannot doubt who must repent — all must, 
every human being that has ever sinned. 

A very great question rises up here ; and that 
is, What is it to repent ? 

You all know there are two kinds of money — 
the good, and the counterfeit. And a man might 
have a house full of the counterfeit, and yet he 
could not be said to have any money. It would 
do him no good. So there are two kinds of 



Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 55 

Trees. Story to explain. 

repentance. One is good, and the other good for 
nothing. They may not seem very different, just 
as two pieces of money may look alike, while one 
is good, and will buy things, and the other is good 
for nothing ; just as tw 7 o trees may stand together, 
and look alike, while one produces good fruit, and 
the other nothing but leaves. But you want 
to know what it is to repent. Let me try to 
tell you. 

A man, who is now a minister of the gospel, 
gave me the following account. I tell it to you 
in order to show you what repentance is. "I had 
one of the kindest and best of fathers ; and when 
I was a little white-headed boy, about six years 
old, he used to carry me to school before him on 
his horse, to help me in my little plans, and always 
seemed trying to make me happy ; and he never 
seemed so happy himself as when making me 
happy. When I was six years old, he came home, 
one day, very sick. My mother, too, was sick ; 



56 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

The sick father. Little boy's falsehood. 

and thus nobody but my two sisters could take 
care of my father. In a few days he was worse, 
very sick, and all the physicians in the region 
were called in to see him. The next Sabbath 
morning, early, he was evidently much worse. As 
I went into the room, he stretched out his hand to 
me and said, ' My little boy, I am very sick. I 
wish you to take that paper on the stand, and run 
down to Mr. C.'s, and get me the medicine writ- 
ten on that paper. 5 I took the paper, and went 
to the apothecary's shop, as I had often done be- 
fore. It was about half a mile off; but when I 
got there, I found it shut ; and as Mr. C. lived a 
quarter of a mile farther off, I concluded not to go 
to find him. I then set out for home. On my w T ay 
back, I contrived what to say. I knew how wick- 
ed it was to tell a lie, but one sin always leads to 
another. On going in to my father, I saw that he 
was in great pain ; and though pale and weak, 1 
could see great drops of sw T eat standing on his 



Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 57 

The tender look. 

forehead, forced out by the pain. Oh, then I was 
sorry I had not gone and found the apothecary. 
At length he said to me, < My son has got the 
medicine, I hope, for I am in great pain.' I hung 
my head, and muttered, for my conscience smote 
me. i No, sir, Mr. Carter says he has got none ! \ 
'Has got none ! Is this possible ? ' He then cast 
a keen eye upon me, and seeing my head hang, and 
probably suspecting my falsehood, said, in the mild- 
est, kindest tone, ' My little boy will see his father 
suffer great pain for the want of that medicine ! ? I 
went out of the room, and alone, and cried. I was 
soon called back. My brothers had come, and 
were standing, — all the children were standing, 
round his bed, and he was committing my poor 
mother to their care, and giving them his last ad- 
vice. I was the youngest ; and when he laid his 
hand on my head, and told me 'that in a few hours 
F should have no father ; that he would in a day 
or two be buried up; that 1 must now make 



58 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

The dying father. 

God my father, love him, obey him, and always 
do right, and speak the truth, because the eye of 
God is always upon me ' — it seemed as if I 
should sink ; and when he laid his hand on my head 
again, and prayed for the blessing of God the 
Redeemer to rest upon me, < soon to be a father- 
less orphan,' I dared not look at him, I felt so 
guilty. Sobbing, I rushed from his bed-side, and 
thought I wished I could die. They soon told 
me he could not speak. Oh, how T much would I 
have given to go in and tell him that I had told a 
lie, and ask him once more to lay his hand on my 
head and forgive me! I crept in once more, 
and heard the minister pray for i the dying 
man.' Oh, how my heart ached ! I snatched 
my hat, and ran to the apothecary's house, and 
got the medicine. I ran home with all my might, 
and ran in, and ran up to my father's bed-side to 
confess my sin, crying out, 'O here, father' — but 
1 was hushed ; and I then saw that he was pale, 



Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 59 

Death arrived. The burial. 

and that all in the room were weeping. My dear 
father ivas dead ! And the last thing I ever spoke 
to him was to tell him a lie ! I sobbed as if my 
heart would break ; for his kindnesses, his tender 
looks, and my own sin, all rushed upon my mind. 
And as I gazed upon his cold, pale face, and saw 
his eyes shut, and his lips closed, could I help 
thinking of his last words, ' My little boy will see 
his father suffer great pain for the want of that 
aiedicine ? ? I could not know but he died for 
the want of it. 

" In a day or two, he was put into the ground 
and buried up. There were several ministers at 
the funeral, and each spoke kindly to me, but 
could not comfort me. Alas ! they knew not 
what a load of sorrow lay on my heart. They 
could not comfort me. My father was buried, 
and the children all scattered abroad; for my 
mother was too feeble to take care of them. 

" It was twelve years after this, while in college, 



60 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 



Repentance at the grave. A few plain remarks. 



that I went alone to the grave of my father. It 
took me a good while to find it; but there it was, 
with its humble tomb-stone ; and as I stood over 
it. I seemed to be back at his bed-side, to see his 
pale face, and hear his voice. Oh ! the thought 
of that sin and wickedness cut me to the heart. 
It seemed as worlds would not be too much to 
give, could I then only have called loud enough to 
have him hear me ask his forgiveness. But it 
was too late. He had been in the grave twelve 
years ; and 1 must live and die, weeping over 
that ungrateful falsehood. May God forgive 



me.' 5 



Now, I wish to say two or three things about 
this little boy's repentance. 

1. You see that a child may be wicked. He 
can sin against a father and against God at the 
same time. God commands us to obey our 
parents and to speak the truth. This child did 
neither. 



Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 61 

God not loved. 

2. You see that a child is not too young to 
repent of a sin against his father. Some have an 
idea that a child is too young to repent; but this 
is a great mistake. If this boy could repent of 
this one sin, he could of more ; and if he could 
repent of a sin against an earthly father, could 
he not of those against his heavenly Father ? 

3. You see what true repentance towards God 
is. It is to feel sorry and grieved that you have 
sinned against God, just as this child did, because 
he had sinned against his dying father. He did 
not grieve so because he was afraid of being 
punished, but because his father was so good to 
him, and he was so wicked against his father. 
Now, had he felt as sorry for each and all of his 
sins against God, as he did for this one sin against 
a man, it would have been true repentance. 

4. You see that if we loved God as much as 
we do an earthly parent, we should repent deeply ; 
because he has done us ten thousand kindnesses, 



62 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

The discontented hoy. The storm. 

and is doing them every day, and because we 
have committed ten thousand sins against him 
more shameful than this shameful sin of the 
little boy. 

There was a wicked boy once, who would 
leave his father's home and go to sea. His kind 
father tried to persuade him not to go ; but he 
was not to be kept away from the sea. The 
reason was, he thought that he might be wicked 
when he got away from his father, and there 
would be nobody to reprove him. His weeping 
father gave him a Bible as he went away, and 
begged him to read it. The boy went away, and 
became very wicked, and very profane. But 
God saw him. There was a great storm upon 
the ocean. The ship could not stand against it. 
She struck upon the rocks in the dark night. It 
was a time of great distress ; — and for a few 
moments, there was the noise of the captain giving 
his orders, the howling of the storm, the cries of 



W/// 




Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 



The Bible. 



the poor sailors and passengers, who expected 
everv moment to be drowned. Then this wicked 
boy wished himself at home. But he had but a 
few moments ; for a great wave came and lifted 
the ship up high, and then came down upon 
another rock, and she was shivered in a thousand 
pieces. Every soul on board w r as drowned, except 
this same wicked boy. By the mercy of God, he 
was w r ashed and carried by the waves upon a 
great rock, so that he could creep up, much bruised 
and almost dead. In the morning, he was seen 
sitting on the rock with a book in his hand. It 
was his Bible, — the only thing, except his own 
life, which had been saved from the wreck. He 
opened it, and there, on the first leaf, was the 
hand-writing of his father ! He thought of the 
goodness of that father, and of his own ingratitude, 
and he wept. Again he opened the book, and on 
every page was the hand-writing of his heavenly 
Father ; and again he wept at the remembrance 
5 



66 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

His repentance. Who have sinned ] 

of his sins against God. His heart was broken. 
He was truly penitent ; and from that hour to this 
he has lived as a Christian. He is now the com- 
mander of a large ship, and seems to make it his 
great business to honor Jesus Christ. This was 
true repentance. 

But I must tell you, in a few words, why it is 
necessary for every one to repent of sin. 

1. Because all have sinned. I need not try to 
tell how many times. I might as well try to 
count the hairs on that little boy's head, who 
stands at that pew door and gives me all his looks 
while I am speaking. We all have sinned against 
our parents, by not obeying them and being kind 
to them ; we have sinned against the Sabbath, by 
not remembering to keep it holy; against the 
Bible, by not loving it and not keeping its sayings ; 
against conscience, which stands close to our heart, 
and, like a sentinel keeping watch, cries out when 
we sin ; against the Holy Spirit, by not doing as 



Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 67 



Stopping- in sin. 



he says, when he makes us feel solemn and sinful ; 
and against God himself, whose commandments 
we break. Oh ! our sins are like a great cloud. 
Did you ever see a cloud of dust or sand in a 
windy day ? And could you count the little par- 
ticles of dust in it — all of them ? No, no. But 
our sins are quite as many. 

2. None will forsake sin till they have repent- 
ed. You might stop a man from stealing by killing 
him or shutting him up in prison. But this would 
not stop his wishing to steal ; and that wishing, in 
the sight of God, is sin. One of these children 
might have his tongue cut out, so that he could 
not talk, and so that he could never again tell a 
lie ; but if he thought a lie in his heart, this would 
be sin ; and cutting out his tongue would not stop 
his sinning. The Indians, some years ago, tried 
to stop their people from sinning ; and so they gave 
them strong emetics, in order to have them throw 
up their sins ; but they did no good- The sin 



68 REPENTANCE. [Lect. 3. 

The Indian and his rum. 

was in the heart, and not in the stomach. One 
of these Indians, who had thus taken emetics, 
went to Pittsburgh, and bought a barrel of rum to 
sell to the other Indians. On his wav back, he 
called and heard the Moravian missionaries preach 
the gospel. "He was so convinced of his sinful- 
ness and misery, that he resolved to alter his 
manner of life. He accordingly returned the 
barrel of rum to the trader at Pittsburgh, declaring 
that he would neither drink nor sell any more 
spirituous liquors, for it was against his conscience. 
He, therefore, begged him to take it back, adding, 
that, if he refused, he would pour it into the Ohio. 
The trader, as well as the white people who w T ere 
present, was amazed, and assured him, that this 
was the first barrel of rum he had ever seen 
returned by an Indian : but he, at the same time, 
took it back, without further objection." 

Nothing but repentance would ever have led 
this Indian to do this. And this, and nothing but 
this, will make any one leave off sin. 



Lect. 3.] REPENTANCE. 69 

Hands full. Conclusion. 

3. None will serve God unless they have first 
repented of sin. Christ says that no man can 
serve two masters. Suppose a child has a large 
apple in each hand, and, without laying down 
either, she goes and tries to take up two large 
oranges. Could she do it? No. Because her 
hands are already full. Just so, when the heart 
is full of sin, you cannot have the love of God in 
it. If you would stop sinning, my dear children, 
you must repent of sin. If you would serve 
God, have him for your Father and Friend, you 
must repent. You all can do it. Ycu all have 
been sorry when you have grieved your parents, 
and you can be sorry when you have offended 
and grieved your blessed Redeemer. Oh ! if you 
will not, you will grow up sinners, live sinners, 
die sinners, and be sinners, accursed by God for 
ever and ever. Amen. 



70 



LECTURE IV. 

ANGELS' JOY WHEN SINNERS REPENT. 

Tliere is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one 
sinner that repenteth. — Luke 15. 10. 

Contents. — Who ever saw an angel 1 What angels do. Many angels. 
How do they feel ? Why they rejoice. First reason. Home. Whom 
have they seen ? The poor boy. What is an eye worth ? What is the soul 
worth ? The second reason. The sick child. The little boj 7 drowning. 
The boy recovered. The brazen serpent. Three remarks. What people 
talk about. Piece of gold. What men love. Sleeping out of doors. Bit 
ter medicine. The broken arm. The last remark. 

Did any of these children ever see an angel ? 
No. Did I ever see one ? No. Did any body 
ever see an angel ? Yes. A great many have. 
Abraham did. Lot did. David did. Christ did. 
Peter and John did. And in the Bible you read 
of many who have seen angels. 

But though you never saw an angel, yet you 
all know what an angel is. Angels are good spir- 
its, who love God more than they love one anoth- 



Lect. 4.] ANGELS' JOY. 71 

What angels do. Man^ angels. 

er, and more than they love any thing else. 
They live in heaven. And what do you think 
they are doing there ? Idle, do you think ? No. 
They are never idle a moment. Sometimes God 
sends them away on errands, just as your parents 
send you. Sometimes they come down to this 
world to do good to good people here. When a 
good man dies, they stand by his bed, and carry 
his soul up to heaven, just as you are led by the 
hand when you do not know the way. 

And though we cannot see them, yet I sup- 
pose some are here in this meeting-house now, 
seeing you and me, and looking to see if this 
sermon will do any good. What else do they 
do ? Why, if God has no errands on which to 
send them, then they sing his praises, and make 
music a thousand times sweeter than any which 
we ever heard. 

There are a great many of these angels in 
heaven ; — more than this house would hold, — 



72 ANGELS' JOY. [Lect. 4. 

How do angels feel ? Why they rejoice. 

more than a thousand or a million of such meet- 
ing-houses would hold, if they were all to be seat- 
ed just as you are. And, they are all happy. 
Because not one of them ever did wrong ; not 
one ever spake a cross or a wicked word ; not 
one of them ever told a lie ; not one of them 
ever sinned, or ever felt any kind of pain. And, 
what is very wonderful, they love us. They 
come down here, and when any body repents of 
sin, they tell of it in heaven, and they all rejoice 
and are glad. Now, just read this beautiful text 
again. " I say unto you, There is joy in the pres- 
ence of the angels of God over one sinner that 
repenteth." Now, if I had told you this without 
first finding it in God's Book, you could not have 
believed me. But now we know it must be so, 
because Christ hath told us so ; and he says, 
" Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words 
shall not pass away." 

I wish, now, my dear children, to tell you two 



Lkct. 4.] ANGELS' JOY. 73 

First reason. Home. 

plain reasons why the angels rejoice over every 
sinner who repents. 1 could give you many more 
reasons, but am afraid you cannot remember more. 

1. First, then, they rejoice when any one re- 
pents, because they know what heaven and hell 
are. 

Now, suppose I had never seen any one of you 
before ; and I should ask one of these little boys 
or girls about their home. You could tell me 
about it — where you eat, where you sleep, where 
you play, how you are kept warm in the cold 
weather, — how your parents take good care of 
you, — where you go to school, — how many ways 
your parents take to make you happy. You could 
tell me all about your home, and your garden, and 
all your pleasant things there, because you have 
always lived there. 

Just so of the angels. They have always liv- 
ed in heaven, and know how pleasant a place it 
is. And w T hen any one repents, they know he 



74 ANGELS 7 JOY. [Lect. 4. 

Whom they have seen. The poor boy. 

will go to heaven, and be happy as they are. 
They have talked with good old Noah about the 
wicked world that was drowned in the flood, 
when he, 

" humble, happy saint, 
Surrounded with the chosen few, 
Sat in the ark, secure from fear, 
And sang the grace that steered him through ! " 

They have talked with Abraham, and Joseph, and 
David, and Paul, and all the happy men in heav- 
en ; and they know that they are all happy, and 
so they rejoice when any one repents and sets 
out to go to heaven. 

Suppose you were to see a poor ragged boy, 
almost frozen with the cold, and who has no 
home, and no fire to warm him by, and no food 
to eat, and no bed to sleep on, and no friends to 
take care of him ; now, would you not be glad to 
have some kind man take that poor child in, and 
give him a good home like yours ? Yes. I know 



Lect. 4.] ANGELS' JOY. 75 

What is an eye worth ? 

you would — I know you would, because you 
know what it is to have a pleasant home. Well, 
just so the blessed angels feel when any one re- 
pents, for they know God will take him to heaven. 
Children, what would you let any one take 
some heavy tool and crush your finger for ? For 
a dollar ? No. For ten ? No. But what would 
you have your arm cut off for ? For a hundred 
dollars? No. For all the playthings in the 
whole world ? No. For how much would you 
lose your reason, and be crazy ? For any thing 
in this world ? No. I know you would not. 
For how much would you have your eyes put 
out, so that you could never again see your friends, 
nor the beautiful light of the glorious sun ? Not 
for all the world. But, my dear children, the 
man who goes to hell because he will not repent 
of sin, is worse off than if he were to lose an 
arm, or his eyes ; yes, worse off than if he were 
to lose his reason, or be put into the fire, and 



76 ANGELS' JOY. [Lect. 4. 

What is the soul worth ? The second reason. The sick child. 

kept burning all day, and all night, and a year, 
and ten thousand years. For he loses his soul, 
and has not a friend in heaven, nor any where 
else ; and, what is more, he never will have a 
friend. He is " covered with shame and ever- 
lasting contempt." The holy angels know all 
this, and rejoice when any sinner repents, and 
thus escapes the punishment of hell. 

This is the first reason. Can you remember 
it? 

2. The second reason why angels rejoice over 
a sinner who repents, is, that till he does repent, 
it is very uncertain whether he ever will. 

If one of you were sick, and laid on the bed, 
and were so sick that it was very uncertain 
whether you would live or die, your parents and 
friends would feel very anxious about you. They 
would come to your bed-side, and raise up your 
feeble head, and inquire about your pain, and 
send off for the physician, and would sit up with 



Lect. 4.] ANGELS' JOY. 77 

The little boy drowning - . 

you all night. Yes, and they would think more 
about their sick child, and feel more anxious about 
you, than about all the rest of the family, so long 
as it was uncertain whether or not you got well. 
And just so the angels feel, so long as it is un- 
certain whether or not a sinner repents. 

Turn now to the 12th chapter of 2 Samuel, 
and see if David did not feel just so. As long 
as it was uncertain whether his child should live 
or die, he lay on the ground, and fasted and pray- 
ed. This uncertainty made him feel very anxious. 

Suppose one of your little brothers should fall 
into the river, and there sink down under the 
deep waters, and before he could be got out, he 
should grow cold, and pale, and seem to be dead. 
Your father takes the little boy in his arms, and 
carries him home, and then they wrap him up in 
warm flannels, and lay him on the bed. The 
doctor comes, and goes into the room with your 
father and mother, to see if it is possible to save 



78 ANGELS' JOY. [Lect 4. 

The boy recovered. 

the little boy's life. The doctor says that nobody 
may go into the room but the parents. They go 
in, and shut the door, and in a few minutes the 
question is to be decided, whether or not the 
child can live. Oh, then, how would you go 
to the door, and walk around with a step soft as 
velvet, and hearken to know whether the dear boy 
lives ! And after you had listened for some time, 
treading softly, and speaking in whispers, and 
breathing short, the door opens, and your mother 
comes out, and there are tears in her eyes ! Is 
he dead ? — says one, in a faint, sinking whisper 
— is he dead ? Oh, no — no — your little brother 
lives, and will be well again ! Oh, what a thrill 
of joy do you ail feel ! What leaping up in glad- 
ness ! Now, there is such a joy in heaven over 
one sinner that repenteth. The sinner has been 
sick, but the gospel has been taken as the remedy, 
and he is to live forever. Do you wonder that 
the angels rejoice at it? 



Lect. 4.] ANGELS' JOY. 79 

The brazen serpent. Three remarks. 

Just turn to the 21st chapter of Numbers, and 
read the account of the healing of those who had 
been bitten by the fiery serpents. Had you been 
there, you might have seen parents carrying their 
little children who had been bitten, and who were 
just ready to die. The poison of the serpents is 
circulating through them, and they are almost 
gone. The mother brings up her child to the 
brazen serpent. Oh, how anxious is she, lest it 
has not got strength sufficient to look up ! How 
tenderly does she gaze upon its face, as she holds 
it up to the brazen serpent, waiting for it to open 
its eyes ! and what joy when it does look up and 
live ! So there is joy in the presence of the 
angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. 

I have now told you the two reasons why the 
holy angels rejoice when a sinner repents. I next 
wish you to hear three remarks. Will you remem- 
ber them — all three ? 

1. Most men are not like the holy angels. 



SO ANGELS' JOY. [Lect. 4. 

What people talk about. Piece of gold. 

By being like the angels, I do not mean, that 
most men do not look like them ; for nobody looks 
like them. But I mean that they do not feel like 
them. You hear men talk every day. What do 
they talk about ? Why, about the weather, their 
health, their cattle, their crops, their farms, and 
their neighbors ; but very few say any thing about 
the repentance of sinners. 

Suppose one of you should repent to-day. I 
should be glad, and so would some others ; but 
the greater part of the people in this town would 
know nothing about it ; or, if they did, they would 
care nothing about it. Not so with the an- 
gels. They would all rejoice over it — would all 
know it. 

Suppose one of you should find a piece of gold, 
as you go home, as big as your fist. What a 
wonder! All the town would know of it, and 
talk about it, and call you a lucky child ; but the 
angels would care nothing about it — no, not if 



Lect. 4] ANGELS' JOY. 81 



What men love. Sleeping - out of doors. 



you should find gold enough to fill this house. 
You see why. Because they feel for your soul ; 
while most men think only of this world. And 
the reason is, men are sinners, and most of them 
love any thing better than repentance. If any 
one of you should repent to-day, I suppose many 
would laugh and sneer at it. But not an angel in 
heaven would laugh or sneer. You see, then, 
how it is, that the first remark is true, that most 
men are not like the holy angels. 

2. My second remark is, that we cannot go to 
heaven without repenting of sin. 

If a man could go to heaven without repenting 
of sin, then nobody would need to repent; and il 
any one did repent, he would be doing what was 
not needful. And if so, then the angels would 
rejoice to see men do what they need not do ! 

Suppose I should say to you to-day, that, in 
order to meet God on the Sabbath, and receive 
God's blessing, you must sleep out on the ground 
6, 



82 ANGELS' JOY. [Lect. 4. 

Bitter medicine. The broken arm. 

" — « 

all Saturday night, wet or cold, sick or well. 
Suppose you do it, and I rejoice to see you do it. 
Now, if this be not necessary in order to receive 
God's blessing, then it would be cruel in me to 
wish to see you doing it. 

You know, when you are sick, your parents 
rejoice to see you swallow, cheerfully, the bitter 
medicine, because you cannot get well without 
taking it ; but if you could get well just as well 
without, your parents would never rejoice to see 
you take it. Now, repentance is disliked as much 
as medicine is ; and if we could go to heaven 
without it, the holy angels would not rejoice to 
see us repenting. 

Suppose, in going home to-day, one of you 
should break his arm so dreadfully that it must be 
cut off, or else you die ; and I should call and see 
you to-morrow, and should find the doctor there, 
with his sharp tools all out, ready to cut the arm 
off, I should rejoice to have it cut off! And why ? 



Lect. 4.] ANGELS' JOY. 83 

The last remark. 

Not, my dear children, because I should love to 
see you suffer, or lose your arm ; but because your 
life could not be saved without. And thus you 
see why the angels rejoice so much over one who 
repents. It is because none can go to heaven 
without repentance. 

3. My third and last remark is, that you 
will all be very wicked if you do not repent im- 
mediately. 

And why? Because you are all sinners; and 
because I have read to you Christ's words, how 
that the angels would rejoice at it, and have told 
you why they would rejoice. No one is too young 
to sin, and so it is plain that no one is too young 
to repent. Because, too, that if you do not repent, 
you cannot go to heaven. You can play, you may 
grow up, you may learn your books, you may 
become rich, if God spares your lives ; and may 
do all this without repentance. But you cannot 



84 ANGELS' JOY. [Lect. 4. 



The last remark. 



go to heaven without. You cannot begin to go, 
till you have a new heart. 

And now, when you are riding or walking 
home, not knowing that you will live to see 
another Sabbath ; when you see the sun go down 
to-day, not knowing as you will live to see him 
rise ; as you lie down to sleep to-night, not 
knowing that you will ever open your eyes again 
in this world, — will you not remember what I have 
now told you, and go before God and repent ! Oh, 
if you wiil, there will be joy in heaven over you. 
Amen. 



s. 



LECTURE V. 

WHAT FAITH IS, AND WHAT ITS USE IS. 

Without faith it is impossible to please him. — Heb. 11. 6. 

Contents. — Lecture to be made plain. Different kinds of faith. The little 
girl who was generous. Faith rewarded, and made plain. The glass 
beads. Faith in a father. The storm at sea. Faith in God. Casting 
bread on the waters. Sowing rice. The old man and his son. The 
house of the slave. The mother's faith. Faith in Christ. Falling into the 
river. Faith leads to obey God — to do good. The dying mother. Faith 
comforts us. The dead boy's lantern. 

I am going to make this Lecture very plain, 
and, I hope, very interesting to these children. 
You may, at first, suppose it will be about what 
you cannot understand, and that it cannot be in- 
teresting to you. But let us see. I do not be- 
lieve there will be five of these children who 
will not hear it all, and remember most of what 
I shall now say. 

There are many kinds of faith or belief among 
men. But only one kind is the true faith, with- 
out which it is impossible to please God, because 



86 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 



The little girl who was generous. 



only one kind of faith makes us obey God. I 
will explain it to you. 

A little girl was once walking with her fa* 
ther, and they were talking together. They were 
talking about being generous. The father told 
the little girl that it meant " to give to others 
what would do them good, even if we had to go 
without ourselves." He also told her, that gen- 
erous people were happy ; because nobody could 
deny himself any thing, in order to give it to an- 
other, without feeling happy; — so that no one 
ever lost any thing by being generous, because 
God w r ould make him happy for doing so. He 
then asked her if she believed this. She said, 
" Yes, father." In the course of their walk, they 
went into a bookstore. The little girl said, 
" Father, I want one of these new books very 
much." " So do I," said the father; "but I 
cannot afford to buy each of us one. But here 
is some money ; and you may do just as you 
please ; you may buy a book, and give to your 



Lect. 5.] FAITH AND ITS USES. 87 

Faith rewarded and made plain. 

father, and go without yourself, or you may buy 
one for yourself, and I will go without. Do just 
as you please." The little girl hung her head, 
and looked at the new books; but then she 
thought of what her father had said about being 
generous, and she had faith in his words. She 
quickly said, " I will go without, and father shall 
have the book." The book was therefore bought. 
And the child felt happy, because she had believ- 
ed her father, and because she had been gener- 
ous. The bookseller, however, overheard the 
conversation, and was so much pleased at seeing 
the faith and the generosity of the little girl, that 
he gave her a very beautiful book. 

This was having faith in a father. But this 
is not the kind spoken of in the Bible. For a 
child might believe a father, and have a strong 
faith in him, and yet be, towards God, a very 
wicked child. 

Mr. Cecil gives us a beautiful account of the 



88 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 

The glass beads. 

manner in which he taught his little daughter 
what is meant by faith. " She was playing one 
day w T ith a few beads, which seemed to delight 
her wonderfully. Her whole soul was absorbed 
in her beads. I said, 

" ' My dear, you have some pretty beads there. 5 

" ' Yes, papa.' 

" ' And you seem to be vastly pleased with 
them. 5 

" ' Yes, papa. 5 

" ' Well, now, throw them behind the fire. 5 

" The tears started into her eyes. She look- 
ed earnestly at me, as though she ought to have 
a reason for such a cruel sacrifice. 

" ' Well, my dear, do as you please ; but you 
know I never told you to do any thing which I 
did not think would be good for you. 5 

" She looked at me a few moments longer, and 
then — summoning up all her fortitude — her breast 
heaving with the effort — she dashed them into 
the fire. 



Lect. 5.] FAITH AND ITS USES. 89 

Faith in a father. 

" ' Well,' said I ; ' there let them lie : you 
shall hear more about them another time ; but 
say no more about them now.' 

" Some days after, 1 bought her a box full of 
larger beads, and toys of the same kind. When 
I returned home, I opened the treasure, and set 
it before her ; she burst into tears of ecstasy. 
' Those, my child,' said I, ' are yours; because 
you believed me, when I told you it would be better 
for you to throw those two or three paltry beads 
behind the fire. Now, that has brought you this 
treasure. But now, my dear, remember, as long 
as you live, what faith is. You threw your 
beads away when I bid you, because you had 
faith in me, that I never advised you but for 
your good. Put the same confidence in God. 
Believe every thing he says in his Word. Wheth 
er you understand it or not, have faith in him 
that he means your good.' " 

This, too, was faith in a father ; but the little 
sjirl might have had it, even if she had been a 



90 FAITH AND ITS USEk. [Lect. 5. 



The storm at sea. 



heathen child. It was not the faith required in 
the Bible, because it was not faith in God 
himself. 

I will now tell you what is faith in the care 
of God. A lady and her husband were standing 
on the deck of a ship during an awful storm. 
The winds howled, and the ship was tossed like 
a feather over the great waves. The lady had 
to hold on with both hands to keep from falling. 
She was very much frightened, and asked her 
husband if he was not afraid. He said nothing, 
but, in a moment after, he held a naked sword 
with its point close to her breast, and asked her, 

" Are you not afraid ?" 

"No." 

" Why not ? Do you see this sword within 
an inch of your heart ? w 

" Yes, but I am not afraid, for it is my hus- 
band who holds it ! " 

" Yes," said he, "and it is my heavenly Fa- 
ther who holds this storm in his hand, the winds 



Lect. 5] FAITH AND ITS USES. 91 

Faith in God. Casting- bread on the waters. 

and the waves ; and why should I be afraid ? No, 
I am not afraid ! " 

This was faith in the care of God. God 
was pleased with it. Now see. Was not the 
gentleman pleased to see that his wife had so 
much faith in his love as not to be afraid, though 
he held a drawn sword to her heart ? Yes, he 
must have been pleased. And so was God 
pleased to see him put so much faith in his care, 
when the storm was raging, and the ship seemed 
like being destroyed. 

The Bible tells us to " cast our bread upon 
the waters, and we shall find it after many days." 
Let us see what this text means. Rice is the 
food most used in the Eastern countries, espe- 
cially in Egypt, even to this day. Every year, 
when the snows all melt off the mountains, the 
river Nile rises up high, and overflows its banks, 
and covers all the country round it with waters. 
The people set down stakes, every man in his 
own land, before the waters come. And when 



92 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 



the Nile has risen, and all the ground is covered 
with waters, they go out in their little boats, and 
sow, or cast their rice upon the waters. The 
rice sinks down, and sticks in the mud beneath ; 
and when the waters are gone, they find it has 
taken root and sprouted, and it grows up, and 
gives them a harvest. This is casting their 
bread upon the waters, and finding it after many 
days. 

Here is one kind of faith. The man who 
sows the rice, believes that it will sink, that the 
waters will go off in due time, and that he shall 
come out and find his rice growing. This is a 
kind of faith in the Providence of God. But, 
you know, this is not the faith required in the 
Bible, because a very wicked man has faith to 
plant and sow, expecting to get a harvest, though 
he forgets that God must make every blade to 
grow, if it does grow. Thousands have had 
this kind of faith, but it did not make them good 
and holy. 



Lfxt. 5.] FAITH AND ITS USES. 93 

The old man and his son. 

Now, let me show you what faith in God is, — 
such a faith as will please God. 

There was once a man to whom God spake, 
and told him to leave his home, his town, and his 
country, and go off into a strange land, and live 
under a tent, and never again have a home. The 
man asked no reasons, but obeyed. After this, 
he had a son, his only son. God told him that 
this son should live and grow up, and should be 
the forefather of great nations, millions of peo- 
ple. But after this, God told this man to go and 
take this boy of his, and take his life, and burn 
up his body with fire. God gave him no reasons 
for this direction. The good man prepared to 
obey. He got the wood ready to burn the body 
of his dear child ; he bound his hands and feet, 
and put out his hand, and took the knife with 
which to take his life. God then told him not 
to do it, but to take a ram which he would find 
close by, and kill him. This was faith in God ; 
for Abraham (for that w r as his name, and you 



94 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 

The house of the slave. 

will find the whole account in the 22d chapter of 
Genesis) obeyed God, because he believed God 
w 7 as wise, and holy, and good, though he could 
not understand why he told him to do this. 

Suppose you had lived while the children of 
Israel lived in Egypt. And suppose you had walk- 
ed out some pleasant day, just at night, down to- 
wards the river. Look, now, and see what is be- 
fore you. Yonder is a cluster of tall trees, and 
just under them is a little cottage or hovel. They 
are poor folks who live there. See, the house is 
small, and has no paint on it, no windows, nothing 
about it that looks comfortable. This hovel is the 
home of slaves. The man and the woman are 
poor slaves. But just look in. What is that wo- 
man doing ? See her weaving a little basket with 
rushes, which she has gathered from the banks of 
the river. See ! she weeps as she twists every 
flag ; and, by the moving of her lips, you see that 
she is praying. She has finished it. Now, watch 
her. Do you see her go to the corner of the 



Lect. 5.] FAITH AND ITS USES. 95 

The mother's faith. Faith in Jesus Christ. 

room, and there kneel down, and weep, and pray 
over a beautiful little boy ? See her embrace and 
kiss him. Now she lays him in the little basket ; 
now she calls her little daughter, and tells her to 
take her little brother, and carry him, and lay him 
down by the cold river's side ! There \ now she 
takes the last look of her sweet babe ; now r she 
goes back weeping into the house, and lifting her 
heart to God in prayer, while her daughter goes, 
and carries her dear boy, and leaves him on the 
bank of the river. What will become of him? 
Will the crocodiles eat him up? or will the 
waters carry him off and drown him ? No, no. 
That poor mother has faith in God ; and God 
will take care of her son. The king's daughter 
will find him, and save him ; and that little in- 
fant is to be Moses, the leader of Israel, the 
prophet of God, and the writer of much of the 
Bible ! This was true faith in God. 

Faith in Jesus Christ is a strong belief in him ; 
such a belief as will lead us to obey his commands. 



96 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 



Falling into the river. 



We believe there was such a being on earth once 
as Christ ; that he did the miracles told of in the 
Testament ; that he was holy ; that he spake the 
words and the sermons told of in the Testament, 
as coming from him ; that he died for sinners, and 
rose from the dead, and is gone to heaven, and now 
lives there, and is doing good to his people. We 
believe all that is told us about him in the Bible, 
And if this belief or faith is good for any thing, 
it will cause us to love to read the Bible, to obey 
Christ, to love him and to serve him, because he 
will reward his people forever beyond the grave, 
and punish those who do not obey him. 

Suppose, as a good old writer says, you should 
fall into a river, which was deep, and where the 
water ran swiftly, and you were almost drowned ; 
and a man should run to the bank of the river, and 
call to you, and throw you a rope. This would 
be just like our Saviour. We are all perishing in 
the "deep waters" of sin; and Christ throws us 
the rope, and calls to us to take hold of it. But 



Lect. 5] FAITH, AND ITS USES. 97 

Faith leads to obey God. 

it will all do no good unless we take hold of it. 
Now, this taking hold of the rope is faith. Faith 
makes us take hold of Christ, just as you would 
take hold of the rope, when drowning. He draws 
us from the deep waters ; and when he has done 
it, we love him, we thank him, and we obey him. 

But I wish to tell you, in a few words, what 
good faith does us. 

1. It makes us obey and serve God. 

No one will serve God by leaving off sin and 
doing his will, unless he has faith to believe that 
he will reward all who are good, and punish all 
who remain wicked. Who would get any good 
from the Bible, if they have not faith in it ? Who 
would try to govern the temper, the tongue, the 
words, and the thoughts, if they did not believe 
that God will bring every secret thing unto judg- 
ment? No one. But if we believe what God 
has told us in his Word, we shall be very careful 
to do what God commands us to do. The sailor 

goes away on the great waters, and works hard 

7 



98 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 

Faith leads us to do good. 

and faithfully, because he has faith to believe the 
captain will pay him. So we must have faith in 
the promises of God, if we would serve him and 
please him. 

2. Faith makes us do good. 

The apostles went every where preaching the 
gospel, though they were hated, and stoned, and 
put in prison, and put to death, because they be- 
lieved God, and had faith in his Word, that who- 
ever will repent, and love Christ, shall be saved ; 
and whoever will not, shall be lost forever. It is 
the faith which led them to endure such sufferings, 
that leads good men now to go to the heathen, 
and preach to them, and die among them. It is 
faith in God that leads good men to preach, to 
have Bible Societies, and to make great efforts, 
and take great pains, to have all men every where 
know, and believe, and obey the Bible. It is this 
faith which leads the praying mother to come to 
the bed of her little child, and hear him say his 



Lect. 5] FAITH AND ITS USES. 99 

The dying mother. 

prayers before he shuts his eyes in sleep. It is 
faith that comforts the dying mother as she leaves 
this world, and leaves her dear children behind 
without any mother. I once visited a dying 
mother, who had this faith in Christ; and after 
she had called her children around her bed, and 
had taken each one by the hand, and had given 
each her advice and her blessing, and had bidden 
them farewell, and was then too much exhausted 
to speak aloud, 

" She made a sign 
To bring her babe ; 'twas brought, and by her placed. 
She looked upon its face, that neither smiled 
Nor wept, nor knew who gazed upon it ; and laid 
Her hand upon its little breast, and sought 
For it — with look that seemed to penetrate 
The heavens — unutterable blessings — such 
As God to dying parents only granted 
For infants left behind them in the world. 
'God bless my child!' we heard her say, and heard 
No more. The angel of the covenant 



100 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 

Faith comforts us. 

Was come ; and, faithful to his promise, stood, 
Prepared to walk with her through death's dark vale. 
And now her eyes grew bright, and brighter still, — 
Too bright for ours to look upon, suffused 
With many tears, — and closed without a cloud. 
They set as sets the morning star, which goes 
Not down behind the darkened west, nor hides 
Obscured among the tempests of the sky, — 
But melts away into the light of heaven ! " 

3. Faith comforts us, and holds us up, in the 
time of trouble. 

There are many times when we can have no 
help from any human friend. None but God can 
aid us. It was so with Noah, when the ark floated 
upon the great waters, and nobody but God could 
roll off these waters, and make the dry land ap- 
pear. It was so with Daniel, when thrown among 
the fierce lions, and nobody could shut their 
mouths but God. It is so with every dying Chris- 
tian, whether he dies at home among his friends, or 



Lect. 5] FAITH AND ITS USES. 101 

The dead boy's lantern. 

away from home among strangers, or alone where 
no one is with him. See what faith can do for a 
child, and in the most awful situation : — 

"By a sudden burst of water into one of the 
Newcastle collieries, thirty-five men and forty-one 
lads were driven into a distant part of the pit, from 
which there was no possibility of return, until the 
water should be drawn off. While this was ef- 
fecting, though all possible means were used, the 
whole number died, from starvation or suffocation. 
When the bodies were drawn up from the pit, seven 
of the youth were discovered in a cavern separate 
from the rest. Among these was one, of peculiar- 
ly moral and religious habits, whose daily reading 
the Sacred Scriptures to his widowed mother, 
when he came up from his labors, had formed the 
solace of her lonely condition. After his funeral, 
a sympathizing friend of the neglected poor went 
to visit her ; and while the mother showed him, 
as a relic of her son, his Bible, worn and soiled 



102 FAITH AND ITS USES. [Lect. 5. 

The dead boy's lantern. 

with constant perusal, he happened to cast his 
eyes on a candle-box, with which, as a miner, he 
had been furnished, and which had been brought 
up from the pit with him ; and there he discover- 
ed the following affecting record of the filial affec- 
tion and steadfast piety of the youth. In the dark- 
ness of the suffocating pit, with a bit of pointed 
iron, he had engraved on the box his last message 
to his mother, in these words: — 

" * Fret not, my Dear Mother,— for we were 
singing and praising God while we had time. 
Mother, follow God more than I did. Joseph, be a 
good lad to God and mother? " 

This was faith ; and, oh, what comfort did it 
give this poor boy in the hour of dying ! and what 
comfort to the poor widow, as she wept over her 
dear son ! May you, dear children, all have such 
a faith. Amen. 



103 



LECTURE VI. 

GOD W2LL TAKE CARE OF US. 

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, 
neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even 
Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of 
these.— Matt. 6. 28, 29. 

Contents. — How Christ preached. The rich man. God is very rich. 
Hogshead of gold. Many cattle. Servants. Little boy and his sister. 
Charge to angels, and beautiful illustration. The garden lily. The cold 
winter and the lily. The pond. Sermon by a lily. The poor heathen 
child. His lonely feelings. Comes to America. His death. Sailing 
of the missionaries. The hymn. The gospel received. The weeping 
mother. The ostrich in the wilderness. Sorrows to come* When will 
God be a friend 1 

Our Saviour used to preach any where, and 
every where, as he met with those who wanted to 
hear him. Sometimes he sat down on the ground, 
and sometimes sat in the boat on the water, and 
sometimes stood in the great temple and preached. 
He used to be very plain, and easy to be under- 
stood. He would have preached finely to chil- 



104 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. 6. 

The rich man. 

dren ; and if he were now to speak to all these 
children before me, I do not believe there is a sin- 
gle one who would not understand all he should 
say. And yet it is possible, if any one w 7 ants to 
do so, to misunderstand even the Saviour himself. 
Now see. Suppose a lazy boy should read over 
my text, and then say, that Christ teaches us that 
God takes care of the lilies, though they do no 
work, and, therefore, we need not work, and he 
will take care of us in our idleness. This would 
be to make the Bible favor our sins ; but the Bible 
never does that. 

Suppose you should go and visit a man who 
was so rich that he had his trees covered with silk 
of the most beautiful colors, and even his most 
ugly looking creatures covered with gold and sil- 
ver, and adorned by the most curious art ! Would 
you not think him a rich man ? And if he were 
known to be a good man, and true to his word, and 
he should tell you that he would be your friend, 



Lect. 6.] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 105 

God is very rich. Hogshead of gold. 

and always take care of you, would you have any 
fear but he would do it ? 

God is richer than all this. He is so rich that 
he can put more of what is beautiful upon a single 
lily or tulip, than the great king Solomon could put 
on all his clothing. The hoarse, homely peacock 
carries more that is beautiful upon his tail than 
the richest king could ever show. And even the 
poor butterfly, which is to live but a few hours, 
has a more glorious dress than the proudest, rich- 
est man that ever lived. God can afford to dress 
this poor worm up so, because he is rich. If, then, 
he can afford to take such care of the lilies, the 
birds, and insects, and to make them more beau- 
tiful than man can ever be, wdll he not take care 
of us, if we obey him ? 

Suppose you had a rich father — so rich that he 
had a hogshead full of gold, and a great barn full 
of silver. Do you think that, if you w T ere to be a 
good child, he would ever refuse to take care of 
you ? But God has more gold and silver laid up 



106 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. 6. 

Many cattle Servants. 

in the ground, which men have not yet dug up, 
than would make a mountain — it may be a hun- 
dred mountains. Can he not take care of you ? 

Suppose your father had more oxen, and horses, 
and cattle, than you could count over in a day, or 
in a week. Would he not be able to take care of 
his child, and give him every thing he needs? 
Yes. But God has " cattle upon ten thousand 
hills," and "every beast of the forest" is his, 
and his are " all the fowls of the air !" Can he 
not give you food from all these cattle, and clothe 
you, and give you beds from the feathers of all 
these fowls ? Yes, he is able to do it all. 

Suppose your father was so rich that he had 
ten thousand men at work for him every day, all 
at work, and all paid to their mind, and all happy 
in working for him. Would you have any fears 
but he could take care of you, and do you good ? 
But God has more servants than these. He has 
all the good people on earth in his employment, 
and all the angels in heaven. He pays them all. 



Lect. 6.] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 109 

Little boy and his sister. 

And if you need any thing, he can send one, or a 
million of these his servants to you, to help you. 

A little boy asked his mother to let him lead 
his little sister out on the green grass. She had 
just begun to run alone, and could not step over 
any thing that lay in the way. His mother told 
him he might lead out the little girl, but charged 
him not to let her fall. I found them at play, 
very happy, in the field. 

I said, "You seem very happy, George. Is 
this your sister ? " 

"Yes, sir." 

" Can she walk alone ? " 

"Yes, sir, on smooth ground." 

" And how did she get over these stones, which 
lie between us and the house ? " 

" O, sir, mother charged me to be careful that 
she did not fall, and so I put my hands under her 
arms, and lifted her up when she came to a stone, 
so that she need not hit her little foot against it." 



110 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. G. 

Charge to angels, and beautiful illustration. The garden lily 

"That is right, George. And I want to tell 
you one thing. You see now how to understand 
that beautiful text, 'He shall give his angels 
charge concerning thee, lest at any time thou dash 
thy foot against a stone.' God charges his angels 
to lead and lift good people over difficulties, just 
'is you have lifted little Anne over these stones. 
Do you understand it now ? v 

"O yes, sir, and I shall never forget it while 
I live." 

Can one child thus take care of another, and 
cannot God take care of those who put their 
trust in him ? Surely he can ; and there is not a 
child among you here to-day, over whom he is not 
ready to give his holy angels charge. 

Did you never see the lily as it stands in 
the garden in the summer? God sends it the 
pure sunshine, and it seems to rejoice in his 
warm beams. He sends it the cooling dews, 
and it seems to drink in their sweetness like 



Lect. 6] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. Ill 

The cold winter and the lily. 

milk. The clouds gather, the storm rages, the 
rains pour down, the winds sweep along. See ! 
the lily has shut up its blossom, and folded its 
leaves, and meekly bows its head, and bends to 
the wind, and asks no eye to gaze on it, while 
the storm lasts. God has taught it to do thus, 
till the smile shall again follow the tempest. It 
is not injured. It opens and smiles again. So 
does God teach the good. The Christian thus 
rejoices when blessed ; and when troubles and 
sorrows come, he meekly bows and waits till 
God remembers him and removes the storm. 

You have seen the lily, in the fall, when the 
frosts came, drop its head, and droop, and die. 
The stalk on which the sweet flower waved all 
summer, is gone, and the spot where it stood is 
forgotten. But see the care of God for that lily. 
The cold winter goes past, the sunshine of spring 
returns, the young buds swell and open, and the 
lily, which has only been sleeping in the ground, 



112 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. |Lect. 6. 

The pond lily. 

puts up its meek head, and rises again to beauty 
and glory. God takes care of the frail, beautiful 
plant, and will not let it perish forever. So you 
have seen the beautiful little child, which stood, 
like the flower in the garden, struck down by 
sickness, and cut down by death, and laid in the 
little grave. But God will take care of it. The 
long winter will be over; and though that dear 
child is forgotten by every body on earth, yet it 
is not forgotten by God. There is a day coming 
when God will come down from heaven, and send 
his angel to call this child from the long sleep 
of the grave, and it will come up from the ground 
fair and glorious on the morning of the great day. 
Do you ask how it can be ? Let me ask you one 
question. 

Did you ever see a pond covered over with 
hard ice, thick and cold, all the long winter? 
Well, the spring comes, and the ice melts away, 
and the lily-seed, which has so long been sleeping 



Lect. 6.] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 113 

Sermon by a lily. 

in the mud at the bottom of the pond, springs up, 
and shoots up, and opens its beautiful white flower, 
on the top of the smooth water, and seems to 
smile as it looks up towards heaven. How is 
this done ? By the care and the power of that 
God who watches over all his works, and who 
will take care of the flower-seed, and of the im- 
mortal spirit of every child. 

While too many people, who know about God, 
seem to live, day after day, for years, without lov- 
ing, or obeying, or even speaking of God, you 
can almost hear the lily speak, as if preaching, 
and say, — 

" I acknowledge the presence of God, my 
Maker. When he passes by me on the soft wings 
of the breeze, I wave my head as he passes ; 
when he rides on the whirlwind or the storm, I 
bow and tremble; when he draws over me the 
curtains of the night, I feel safe, and go to sleep ; 
when he opens upon me the eye of morning, I 
8 



114 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. 6. 

The poor heathen child. 

wake up, and drink in the fresh beams of his sun ; 
and when he sends his chilling frosts, I let my 
frail body perish, and hide myself in the ground, 
knowing that he will again raise me up to life and 
beauty ! " 

Some years ago, there was a poor child left 
alone, at the death of his parents, in a distant 
island of the ocean. His people were all heathen, 
wicked people. His father and mother were 
killed in a cruel war. Now, see how God takes 
care of his creatures. Let us hear his own ac- 
count of the thing. " At the death of my parents, 
I was w 7 ith them ; I saw them killed with a bayo- 
net — and with them my little brother, not more 
than two or three months old — so that I was left 
alone without father or mother in this wilderness 
world. Poor boy, thought 1 within myself, after 
they were gone, are there any father or mother 
of mine at home, that I may go and find them at 
home ? No ; poor boy am I. And while I was 



Lieut. 6.] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 115 



His lonely feelings. Comes to America. 

at play with other children, after we had made an 
end of playing, they return to their parents, — but 
I was returned into tears, — for I have no home, 
neither father nor mother. I was now brought 
away from my home to a stranger place, and I 
thought of nothing more but want of father or 
mother, and to cry day and night. While I was 
with my uncle, for some time I began to think 
about leaving that country, to go to some othei 
part of the globe. I thought to myself that if I 
should get away, and go to some other country, 
probably I may find some comfort, more than to 
live there, without father and mother." 

This poor boy, thus left, an orphan, in a hea- 
then country, was under the care of God. He 
left the island, and came to this country. Here 
he found kind friends, who took care of him, and 
taught him to read and write, and who took great 
pains to teach him about God and about Jesus 
Christ. He became a true Christian, and a 
dear youth he was. He wanted to go back to 



116 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. 6. 



His death. The sailing of the missionaries. 



his country, to tell his people about God and 
Jesus; but just as he had gotten his education, 
and was ready, he was taken sick, and died. His 
name was Henry Obookiah. He died with "a 
hope full of immortality." His grave is in Corn- 
wall, Conn. But he lived not in vain. By 
means of his life and death, good men felt so 
much for his poor countrymen, that many good 
missionaries have gone to those islands, and there 
built churches, and printed school books, opened 
schools, printed the Bible, and taught many thou- 
sands to read and to know God. The foolish 
idols are destroyed, and they are becoming a 
Christian nation. 

I remember when the missionaries first set out 
for that country. They sailed from New Haven ; 
and before they entered the ship, and as they took 
leave of their dear friends, amid a great company 
of Christians, they all united in singing a beautiful 
hymn. Three verses of this 1 will now read to 
you. 



Lect.6.] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 117 

The hymn. The gospel received. 

" Wake, isles of the South ! your redemption is near ; 

No longer repose in the borders of gloom ; 
The strength of his chosen in love will appear, 

And light shall arise on the verge of the tomb. 

The heathen will hasten to welcome the time, 
The day-spring, the prophet in vision once saw, 

When the beams of Messiah will 'lumine each clime, 
And the isles of the ocean shall wait for his law 

And thou, Obookiah, now sainted above, 

Shalt rejoice as the heralds their mission disclose ; 

And thy prayers shall be heard, that the land thou didst love 
May blossom as Sharon, and bud as the rose ! " 

Oh ! what care and goodness in God, thus to 
guide this lonely child to this country, and, by his 
means, lead many to go and carry the gospel to 
that whole nation ! The Sabbath is now known 
there, and many thousands have already learned 
to read the Word of God ; and we believe multi- 
tudes have become true Christians, and have fol- 
lowed Henry to the presence of God in heaven. 



118 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. 6\ 



The weeping- mother. 



When they were heathen, they used to kill almost 
all their children when they were sm$ll ; and 
many of them were murdered, and given to their 
idol gods. One day, when the little church there 
was sitting down at the communion table, a poor 
woman, who had been a heathen, but who was 
now a Christian, was seen to weep most bitterly. 
One of the ministers asked her why she wept and 
wrung her hands. " Oh ! " said she, " why did I 
not know of this blessed God before ! Why did 
I not ! I once had six sweet children — they are 
all gone — I murdered them all with my own 
hands ! But oh, if I had known about God as I 
now do, they would have been alive now!" 
They have now done with the cruel practice of 
murdering their children. They know better. 

Perhaps some of my little hearers are orphans, 
— have no father, or no mother. I can feel for 
such ; for I know what it is to stand by the grave 
of a father when a child. But let me say to you, 



I,ect. 6.] GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. 119 

The ostrich in the wilderness. Sorrows to come. 

that God will take care of you. He takes care 
of the lily. You have heard of the ostrich, that 
great bird which lives in the wilderness. She 
lays her eggs in the sand, and then leaves them 
forever. The warm sun hatches out the young 
ostrich, and there is no mother to feed and take 
care of it. But God takes care of it, and feeds 
it ; and will he not much more take care of the 
child who has lost father or mother, if that child 
ask him to be a father ? Surely he will 

Children, you have all yet to meet with trials 
and disappointments. You are meeting with 
them every day. You will have sickness, and 
pain, and sorrow, and you want a friend whose 
love cannot change. You must die, and be buried 
up in the ground ; and you want God to take care 
of you, whether you live in this world or in the 
next. Well, God will be such a friend to you on 
these conditions : — 

1 . You must ask him to be your father and 



120 GOD WILL TAKE CARE OF US. [Lect. 6. 

When will God be a friend ? Conditions. 

friend. Ask him every day, and feel that without 
his blessing upon you every day, your feet may 
fall, your eyes fill with tears, and your soul meet 
with death. Ask in the name of Jesus Christ. 

2. You must promise him sincerely that you 
will obey him and do his will. Suppose you had 
no father or no mother, and a great, and good, and 
rich man were to offer to take you, and take care of 
you, and make you his own child, and should say 
he would do it all, on the condition that you 
obliged him and did his will, — would you not at 
once promise to do it ? And so you ought to 
promise God. 

3. You must love God as you would the best 
father in the world. Love his Son, because he is 
the express image of the Father. Love his word, 
his people, his service, his commands, his duties, 
and thus give him your heart, and he will be your 
friend forever and ever. Amen. 



121 

LECTURE VII. 

JESUS CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 

Jesus — who, by the grace of God, should taste death for 
evert/ man. — Hebrews 2. 9. 

Contents.— Figurative language. Fields smiling. The sea afraid. Mean- 
ing of the text. How they used to put people to death. Socrates' death. 
Long row of prisoners. Christ drinking the cup of poison. Children of Is- 
rael. The court-house. The young prisoner. His plea. His home. His 
family. The parting. Killing his parents. The compassionate judge. 
The pardon. Christ died for us. All saved 1 The hospital. The house 
for all the blind. Offered to all. A question answered. Light for all. 
Water for all. Salvation of Christ free. A thing to be remembered. The 
story of the slave. The good man. The slave bought. Ingratitude. All 
men slaves. John Howard. Four things to be done. 

If I should speak about figurative language, 1 
wonder if these children would know what I 
mean ? Some, no doubt, would. But lest all 
could not understand it, I will tell you what I 
mean. If I should walk out with one of these 
children, on some fair and beautiful morning, and 
see the bright sun, and the trees full of blossoms, 
and the ground covered with green grass, and 



122 CHRIST TASTING DEATH [Lect. 7. 

Meaning of" the text. How they used to put people to death. 

hear the birds sing, I might stop and say to my 
little friend, " How pleasant ! The very fields 
smile!" By this I should not mean that the 
fields have eyes, and a mouth, and a face, and 
can smile, just as we do. But this is figurative 
language. So when the Bible says, " The sea 
saw God, and was afraid," it means the waters 
rolled back, and went away, just as a man would 
run away when he was afraid. This is figurative 
language. The sea rolled back, just as if it were 
afraid. The fields look pleasant, just as a man 
does when he smiles. 

Now, see if you cannot understand this beauti- 
ful text. In the times when the Bible was writ- 
ten, they used to put men to death, who had 
broken the laws, in different ways. Some weie 
stoned to death. Some were drowned. But one 
very common way was, to make them take a cup 
and drink what was in it. This cup used to have 
poison in it. The condemned man drank it, and 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 123 

Socrates 7 death. Long row of prisoners. 

in a few moments was dead. In this way Socra- 
tes, one of the best heathen that ever lived, and 
put to death unjustly, died. "The fatal cup was 
brought. Socrates asked what was necessary for 
him to do. c Nothing more,' replied the ser- 
vant, ' than, as soon as you have drank it, to walk 
about till you find your legs grow weary, and af- 
terwards lie down upon your bed.' He took up 
the cup without any emotion or change in his 
color or countenance — and then drank off the 
whole draught with an amazing tranquillity." 

Now, this text represents all men as guilty of 
crime, and justly condemned to die. It is just as 
if all were shut up in prison, and doomed to 
drink, each a cup full of poison. Just suppose 
the prison doors to be opened, and the poor men 
all brought out and placed in a long row, and 
each man holding a cup of poison in his hand, 
which he must drink. Then, at that moment, 
Jesus Christ comes along, and pities the poor 



124 CHRIST TASTING DEATH. [Xect. 7. 

Christ drinking the cup of poison. Children of Israel. 

guilty prisoners, and goes slowly along, takes 
each cup out of the hand, and drinks it himself ! 
This is drinking, or " tasting death for every 
man !" This is just as if Christ had done so for 
sinners. This is figurative language ; but you now 
understand it ; and whenever you read over this 
delightful text, you will know it means, that 
Christ died for sinners, and thus saved them from 
hell, just as he would save the poor prisoners, if 
he should drink the cup of poison for each one ! 

You know how mercies may come to people 
sometimes, not on their own account, but on the 
account of others. To make this plain : — The 
children of Israel all sinned against God in the 
wilderness, and God was about to kill them all. 
But Moses went and prayed for them ; and God 
heard his prayers, and spared the w r icked He- 
brews for the sake of Moses. When Joseph was 
sold a slave in Egypt, God blessed his master, and 
blessed all Egypt, for the sake of Joseph. And 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 125 

The court-house. The young prisoner. 

men who are guilty, and who deserve to die, can 
sometimes be forgiven for the sake of others, who 
are not guilty. This I will try to make plain to 
you. 

Suppose, in one of your walks, you go into 
the court-house, while the court are doing their 
business. You go in, and find the great room 
full of people. A young man has just been tried 
for committing an awful crime. The lawyers 
have done pleading for him, and he is proved to 
be guilty. He must die ; and he has now been 
brought into the court to hear the sentence of 
death. The judge rises up with a paper in his 
hand, on which the sentence is written. He 
looks towards the young man, and says, 

" Young man, the court have found you guilty. 
Is there any reason why the sentence of death 
should not now be pronounced upon you ? " 

The young man rises up. His hands are 
clasped together in agony. The sheriff stands 



126 CHRIST TASTING DEATH [Lect. 7. 

His plea. His home. 

close by him, so that he shall not escape. He 
stands a moment, and the tears fall fast from his 
cheeks. He falters, — and then speaks : — 

" Sir, I have to thank you for the kind manner 
in which I have been tried. I deserve to die, 
and, for myself, I cannot, and I do not, ask for 
life. But, sir, far away from this, in a remote 
corner of the country, there is a high mountain 
rising up towards heaven. At the foot of that 
mountain is a beautiful meadow, with a sweet 
little brook winding through it. On the banks 
of that brook, and just at the foot of the moun- 
tain, stands a little cottage, under the lofty elms 
that hang over it. And there I spent my boy- 
hood. The stream was never dry, and the 
meadows were always green. There I lived, 
gay as the lark which flew over my head ; and 
in that little cottage there lives an old, worn-out 
soldier, who fought and bled for his country. 
You can remember how you and he fought side 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 129 



His family. The parting. Killing- his parents. 



by side, and how he once saved the life of his 
general, at the risk of his own. He is an old 
man ; — his hair is gray ; — he leans upon a staff 
when he walks. And beside him sits a feeble 
woman. They are my father and my mother. 
At their feet sit my two little sisters, who, every 
night, go to the little window, and stand and 
watch as long as they can see, in hopes to see 
me return. For, when I left my home, and my 
father laid his hand on my head, and prayed for 
me, and my mother wept her blessing over me, 
and my sisters hung upon my arm, I promised to 
return again, and be the comfort, the stay, and 
the staff of that family. And now, sir, when I 
am gone, — when I am cut off with all the sins 
of my youth fresh upon me, — the tidings will all 
go to that distant cottage, and the news will kill 
that old man, my father, and that aged woman, 
my mother. Yes, they will sink down in sorrow 
to the grave; and my orphan sisters will be 
9 



130 CHRIST TASTING DEATH. [Lect. 7. 

The compassionate judge. The pardon. 

turned out upon a world whose charities will be 
cold towards the sisters of one who died on the 
gallows. Oh, sir, how can I die, and bury that 
family in ruin ! Oh, save me, for the sake of that 
old soldier, who shed his blood freely for his 
country, and that mother, whose prayers will 
cover your head as long as she lives, and those 
sisters, who will never lie down without praying 
for you ! For my sake, I dare not ask life ; but 
for their sakes, I ask and entreat it ! " 

The humane judge is moved ; he is a father, 
and he weeps. He says, " Young man, I cannot 
pardon you. I must pass the sentence of the 
law upon you. But I will commend you to the 
governor, who has the power to pardon you. I 
will tell him your story, and I hope, for the sake 
of that old soldier, your father, he will pardon 
you ; but till his mind is known, you are con- 
demned." 

Now follow the good judge. He goes to the 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 131 

Christ died for us. All saved 1 The hospital. 

governor. He states the case, the crime, the 
guilt of the youth. He also states the situation 
of the old father whose only son is condemned 
to the gallows. The governor listens. His 
heart, too, is moved, and he pardons the young 
man, and sends him home, not because he de- 
served pardon, but for the sake of his father's 
family. This, now, is a plain case, where a man 
may receive pardon for the sake of another. 
Just so, for the sake of Jesus Christ, men may 
be pardoned by God, and prepared for heaven. 
In this way have more good people gone to 
heaven than we could count — a multitude from 
every nation under heaven. 

But perhaps I should here ask you a question. 
If Christ died for all men, tasted death for every 
man, will every man, of course, go to heaven ? I 
answer, No ; not of course. Let me show you 
how it is. At Boston they have built a great 
and a beautiful house for sick people to be carried 



132 CHRIST TASTING DEATH. [Lect. 7 

The house for all the blind. Offered to all. 

to, in order to be taken care of, and cured. It is 
called a hospital. It is built for the use of every 
man in Massachusetts — if he chooses to go to it. 
It is so that any person who wishes may go there 
and enjoy its accommodations. Now, if any body 
does not feel sick, he need not go there. He may 
be sick at home, if he chooses. Still he has a 
right to go to the hospital. It was built for every 
body. So Christ died for all men, and is ready to 
save all men ; but if any do not feel their need of 
him, or if they choose to go somewhere else for 
pardon, they can, and, of course, they are not 
saved by Christ. 

Suppose I am a rich man, and I build a great 
house, and call it the house for blind people ; and 
print it in all the newspapers, that the house is all 
ready and complete, and that every blind child in 
the land may come and live in it ; that I will give 
him food and clothing, will have him instructed, 
and will even cure him of his blindness. But I 



Lect. 7] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. ]33 

A question answered. 

have one condition ; and that is, that all the blind 
children who come shall behave well, and be good 
children, and obey all the rules of the house. 
This would be a house for all the blind in the land. 
But would all come to it ? No. Some would 
say, they do not wish to be fed and clothed. Some 
would say, they do not wish to be taught. And 
some would say, they do not wish to be cured ; they 
had as lief be blind as not. And thus there might 
be multitudes who are blind, but who receive no 
good from my house. Just so with men in regard 
to Jesus Christ. All may go to him and be 
saved ; but all will not choose to go ; and none 
will be saved except those who do go to him, and 
who obey him. 

But will God, perhaps you ask, provide for all, 
and yet all not receive salvation ? Will he lay a 
foundation for a great church, and yet set only a 
small building on it ? I reply to you, that God 
has provided a Saviour, who is able and willing to 
save all men ; and yet he will save none but those 



134 CHRIST TASTING DEATH. [Lect. 7. 

Light for all. Water for all. 

who break off from sin, and obey him. What 
child needs to have me tell him that God provides 
many blessings which all do not enjoy, though all 
might, if they chose ? He has created sunshine 
enough for all. But some are so wicked that 
they had rather be thieves, and go to steal in the 
night, and sleep when the sun shines. Still there 
is light enough for all, if all choose to use it. So, 
also, God has created water enough to supply 
every thirsty man on earth ; but some choose not 
to drink it; they had rather drink some strong 
drink, which destroys them. But there is water 
enough, and it is their fault if they do not use it. 
Does any man ever say that God could not and 
did not write the Bible ? or that God has not 
appointed and blessed the holy Sabbath, because 
so many people choose to break the Sabbath, 
and waste it ? No. In all these cases, we know 
that God has, in mercy, provided these blessings, 
and then left men to do as they please about en- 
joying them. 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. ]35 

Salvation of Christ free. A thing- to be remembered. 

It is just so with the salvation by Jesus Christ. 
It is as free as the water which flows from the 
clouds ; but, then, men may do as they please about 
going to Christ for it. He healed every sick man 
who came to him, when he was on earth ; but if 
any were sick, and did not go to him, or send to 
him, such he did not heal. 

I have almost done this Lecture. But I want 
to say a word more to these dear children, and to 
say, if I can, such a thing, and in such a manner, 
that they will not forget it. What I wish to say is 
this, that it is very wrong not to love Jesus Christ 
for his mercy in tasting death for every man. 

Now, suppose I should say to you, " Children, 
I am now going to tell you a story about myself ; 
and the story is this. Just suppose it true. I 
was once out on the great waters, far out upon 
the ocean, in a large ship, going to the Indies. 
On one fine morning, another ship came in sight, 
and bent her course so as to come straight to- 



136 CHRIST TASTING DEATH. [Lect. 7. 

The storv of the slave. The good man. 

wards us. We were afraid of her, and so we 
hoisted up every sail we could, in order to get 
away. But she gained upon us, and we could not 
escape. So she sailed up to us, a great ship, full 
of men, and guns, and swords. They took us all, 
and carried us to their country, and put irons on 
our hands and on our feet, and stripped off our 
clothes, and sold us in the market for slaves, just 
as they would cattle. I was bought by a cruel, 
wicked man, who almost starved me, and who 
used to whip me every day till the blood ran 
down my back. So I lived for years. The news 
at length reached my native place. And then 
the richest and the best man in the whole coun- 
try, and one w T hom I had always treated unkind- 
ly, heard of my condition. He felt for me. At 
once he sold his house, his lands, and every thing 
he had, and took all he had in the world, and 
went into that distant country, to buy me out of 
slavery, When he got there, he told what he 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 137 

The slave bought. Ingratitude. 

wanted. My master would not sell me. The 
good man offered all his money, and to become 
poor himself. No, — my master would not take 
it. At last, the good man offered to become a 
slave himself, if I might be set at liberty. The 
offer was accepted. I had the irons taken off 
from my hands, and put on his ; and the stripes 
w r hich I had received, were laid upon him. I saw 
him a poor slave, and knew that he had left home 
and friends, and had become a slave, to buy my 
freedom ! I came home to my friends, where I 
have a home and so many blessings. And now I 
forget that friend who became a slave in my 
place. I never speak of him ; I never write to 
him, never thank him ; never have tried to love 
him or his friends ! Is not this ungrateful ? Is 
it not wrong, and sinful ? And have I not got a 
very wicked heart ? " 

Now, just see how this applies to us. We 
were all taken and made slaves by sin. We were 



138 CHRIST TASTING DEATH. [Lkct. 7, 

All men slaves. John Howard. 

all in bondage, and all ruined. Jesus Christ was 
in heaven, with the Father. His eye pitied us. 
He was rich, and had all in heaven for his own ; 
but he became a poor man. For our sakes, he 
became poor. He came, like an angel, on the 
wings of love, down to this world, where we 
poor slaves live. He would buy us. And he 
bought us by becoming a curse for us ; bought us, 
" not with corruptible things, as with silver and 
gold," but by his own precious blood. "The 
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all, and 
by his stripes we are healed." Ought we not to 
love Jesus Christ, and that, too, with all the 
heart ? 

Christ died for us while we were enemies. 
The great and the good John Howard went all 
over Europe to visit the prisons and to do good 
to the poor prisoners. When he entered a pris- 
on, the prisoners would frequently go the whole 
length of their chain, to fall at his feet and bless 



Lect. 7.] CHRIST TASTING DEATH. 139 

Four things to be done. 

him. But they were not his enemies, nor did he 
die for them. But Christ died for us, while we 
were enemies. What a love is this ! What a 
Saviour is he ! " What think ye of Christ, " my 
dear children ? Should you not at once begin to 
do, and continue to do, these four things? 

1 . Think about Jesus Christ every day, in your 
own heart. 

2. Read about Christ in the Bible, and try to 
know as much about him as you possibly can. 

3. Think how little you have thought of him, 
oi cared for him, and be humbled and truly 
sorry. 

4. Give him your love, your heart, your life, 
your all. Amen. 



140 



LECTURE VIII. 

CHRIST INTERCEDING FOR US. 
He ever liveth to make intercession, — Heb. 7. 25. 

Contents. — The name of Washington. We all want a friend. The poor 
Indian and his child. Christ is such a friend as we need. Children's 
troubles. The three friends. The real friend. Story applied. Christ is 
the real friend. When most needed. The just king and his laws. Christ's 
manner of interceding. High treason. The wife and ten children. The 
pardon. How is Christ's intercession different ? The child in prison. The 
two brothers. Four things in Christ. He is worthy. He knows our wants. 
Ever lives. Never changes. The waters quench not his love. 

Almost every prayer which we hear, is made 
in the name of Jesus Christ ; and every thing 
we ask God for, is asked " for Christ's sake." A 
poor, sick soldier might go to the door of con- 
gress, and ask to go in, and ask for help for him- 
self and his family, and he could not get any. 
But if he had in his pocket a paper, saying that 
he might go and ask help in the name of Wash- 
ington, and if congress knew that the paper was 
written by Washington, they would hear his re- 



Lect. 8] CHRIST INTERCEDING. l41 

We all want a friend. 

quest, and aid him, for Washington's sake. This 
would be asking in another's name, just as we 
ask God in Christ's name ; and it would be an- 
swering for another's sake, just as God answers 
us " for Christ's sake." 

Nobody can feel happy without a friend. And 
almost every one tries to get and keep a few 
friends, however wicked he may be. Let any 
one have no friend to feel for him, to share his 
joys and his sorrows, and he will feel unhappy. 
You have seen how children will love a little dog, 
or a lamb, or a dove, or any thing that can love 
them. The little boy w 7 ill talk to his top, and the 
little girl will talk to her doll, because they want a 
friend ; and if the top and the doll could talk, 
and love them, they w r ould be still more glad. 
Why ? Because we all want friends, to whom we 
can talk, and who will feel for us. Let me show 
you just w 7 hat I mean. 

Some years ago, there was an Indian in the 



142 CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 

The poor Indian and his child. 

state of Maine, who, for his very good conduct, 
had a large farm given him by the state. He 
built his little house on his land, and there lived. 
Around him were quite a number of white fami- 
lies. They did not treat him badly, but, because 
he was an Indian, they did not act and feel as if 
they loved him, and as if they were his friends. 
His only child was taken sick, and died, and not 
one of the white people went near him to comfort 
him, or to aid him to bury his little child. A few 
days after, he came to the white people, and said 
to them, 

" When white marts child die, Indian man 
be sorry, — he help bury him. Wlien my child die, 
no one speak to me — / make his grave alone, — 
/ canH no live here, — and have no friend to love 
me!" 

The poor Indian gave up his farm, dug up the 
body of his child, and carried it with him two 
hundred miles through the forest, to join the 



Lect. 8.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 143 

Christ is such a friend as we need. Children's troubles. 

Canada Indians ! What love for his child ! What 
a deep feeling in his heart, that he wanted a 
friend ! 

So we all want some one to whom we may 
look every day. But when we are sick, when in 
distress, when we are about to die, oh, then, we 
want a friend who will stand near us, and who 
can help us. Now, Jesus Christ is just that 
friend. He was once a man of sorrows, and 
was acquainted with grief, and knows how to 
help those who are in sorrow. He was once in 
the agonies of death, and knows all how the 
dying feel. Is any one poor ? So was he, and 
knows all about being poor. Are you a poor 
weak child? So was he, and knows just how 
the child feels, and just what a friend he needs. 
You have little trials and troubles, which older 
people would not think of, but which sometimes 
make your heart feel heavy and sad. Well, 
Jesus Christ knows all about such feelings, and 



144 CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 

The three friends. 

can help you, and will do it every day, if you ask 
him every day to do so. 

But though we want a friend all our lives, 
there is one hour when we very much need 
such a friend. That is the hour of dying. Let 
me show you why. 

There was once a man who had three friends. 
He knew them, and lived near them for years. 
It so happened, that this man was accused to the 
king of the country as a bad man, and the king 
ordered that he should be put to death. The 
poor man heard of it, and was in great trouble. 
He expected to lose his life, and to leave his 
family of children in great distress. After think- 
ing it over, and weeping over it, he determined 
to go to the king, and fall down before him, and 
get somebody to go with him, and beg his life. 
So he called on these three friends, and begged 
them to go with him. The first whom he asked, 
he loved best, and thought him his best friend. 



Lect. 3.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 115 

The real friend. Story applied. 

But no ; — he would not go with him one step 
towards the king's court. He w r ould not move 
to help him. He next went to the second 
friend, and whom he loved next best, and asked 
him to go. So they set out to go ; but when 
they came to the gates of the king's court, this 
friend stopped, and would not go in with him, and 
ask for his life. Then he went to the third 
friend, and the one whom he loved the least, and 
asked him to help him. This friend was known 
to the king, and beloved by him. So he took 
him by the hand, and led him in to the king, and 
interceded, or begged for him, and the king par- 
doned the condemned man, for the sake of his 
friend who interceded for him ! 

Now, see how this story applies here. People 
have three things, w r hich they think of, and which 
they call their friends. These three things are, 
1. The world; that is, property, and houses, 
and all the fine things which they have. 2. 
10 



146 CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 

Christ the real friend. When most needed. 

Their friends. 3. Jesus Christ. The first of 
these friends is loved the most. Our friends are 
loved next best ; and Jesus Christ least of all. 
So, when we are taken sick, and must die, and go 
in before the great King, we call upon these to 
help us. The world, and the things of the w r orld, 
however, cannot go with us one step. They 
must all be useless the moment we lie on the 
bed of death. The next, which is, our friends, 
can go with us through the sickness, and as far 
as to the king's gates, the gates of death, and 
they there stop and leave us. But Jesus Christ, 
that friend, of w r hom we think so little, and whom 
vve love so little, he can go in with us before the 
2;reat King of kings, and plead for us, — intercede 
for us, and thus save our souls from being con- 
demned to eternal death. This, oh, this is the 
time when we need him for our friend, and need 
him for our intercessor. He died for us, and can, 
therefore, be our friend, and plead for us, and 
save us. 



Lect. 8.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 147 

The just king- and his laws. Christ's manner of interceding-. 

I trust you have not forgotten the last Lec- 
ture, in which I tried to show you how that 
God can save our souls, because Christ suffered 
for us. I am now showing you that Christ does 
something more ; he intercedes for us. A king 
once made a law against a certain crime ; and 
the law was, that every one who did that wicked 
thing should have both his eyes put out. Very 
soon, a man was found who had broken the law. 
He was tried and found guilty. It was the 
king's own son. Now, the king saw that, if he 
did not punish his son, nobody ought to be pun- 
ished, and nobody would keep the law. So he 
had one eye of his son put out, and one of his 
own eyes put out ! He could now go before the 
court and plead for his son, and, by his own suf- 
ferings and intercession, could save his son from 
further punishment. All the people saw that 
the good king hated the crime and loved his laws. 
Just so does Jesus Christ save us. He has 
suffered for us, and now lives to intercede for us. 



148 CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 

High treason. 

How very different are Christ's prayers for 
lis from any thing which we can do for one 
another ! He can always aid us. We cannot al- 
ways do it. Let me try to show you the differ- 
ence. 

Many years ago, there were some men, in the 
state of Pennsylvania, who would not obey the 
laws of their country, but tried to destroy the laws, 
and have their own wills. When men go so far 
as to unite, and say they will not obey the laws, 
this crime is called " high treason. 5 ' Among these 
men who did so, was one by the name of John 
Fries. He was carefully tried by the court, and 
found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. The 
death-warrant was signed by the president of the 
United States, and the day was fixed on which he 
should die. But just before the day came, some 
people went to the president, and asked him to 
permit a woman to see him, who had something to 
say to him. The president said he would see her. 



Lect. 8.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 149 

The wife and ten children. The pardon. 

A few kind friends went w r ith her to the house of 
the president. The president stood up to receive 
her. But what was his surprise to see this woman 
with ten children all kneeling before him in tears ! 
They w T ere the wife and the ten children of John 
Fries, kneeling and weeping, and interceding for 
the life of their father, who was condemned to 
die ! The president stood in amazement ; and 
then the big tears came gushing down his cheeks, 
and his voice was so choked, that he could not 
speak. With his eyes streaming with tears, and 
his hands raised towards heaven, he pushed away 
out of the room. Oh, what a moment of anxiety ! 
Would he hear the petition, or would he let the 
man die ? In a few moments he returned with a 
paper in his hand. It contained a full and free 
pardon for her husband, and their father. He 
gave it to Mrs. Fries, and she went away, and re- 
turned joyful to her home, having her husband 
with her. 



IZO CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 

How is Christ's intercession different? The child in prison. 

This was interceding before a human being. 
Christ intercedes before God. This was inter- 
ceding for one man. Christ does it for all his peo- 
ple. This was for one short life. Christ asks for 
us eternal life. This was for one sin. Christ in- 
tercedes for all our sins. This was for a friend. 
Christ does it for those who have ever been ene- 
mies. This saved from the curse pronounced by 
human laws. Christ saves us from the curse of 
God's law. This was a little stream ; but Christ 
carries us over the dark river of death. 

Suppose one of these children were condemn- 
ed to die, and were shut up in prison, and were 
going to send a petition to the governor for your 
life. Whom would you wish to carry it ? The 
most worthy man in the whole town, certainly. 
Christ is the most worthy being in the universe, 
and therefore he is a good intercessor. If you 
were to petition for your life, whom would you 
wish to carry your petition ; a stranger, or some 



Lect. 8.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 151 

The two brothers. Four thing's in Christ. 

warm, intimate friend of the governor ? The friend, 
surely. You would say, the governor will be more 
likely to hear his friend than a stranger. Yes. And 
God is ever well-pleased with his dear Son, and is 
willing to hear him when he intercedes for us. 

History informs us of a man who was doomed 
to die for some crime which he had committed. 
His brother had lost an arm in defending his coun- 
try. He came forward and held up the stump of 
his lost arm, and interceded for his brother. The 
judges were so affected by the remembrance of 
his past services, that they freely pardoned the 
guilty brother for his sake. Thus is Christ de- 
scribed to us as sitting on the throne, with his 
wounds yet bleeding (Rev. 5. 6,) and interceding 
for us. 

There are four things about Jesus Christ which 
make him just such an intercessor as we need. I 
will tell you what they are. 

1. He is worthy. 

You know, dear children, that it is a great 



152 CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 



He is worthy 



comfort to have good men pray for us. You know, 
too, that the prayers of good men avail much with 
God. In the Bible you will find the stories, where 
one man prayed, and the dead child of a heathen 
woman was raised to life ; where another prayed, 
and an angel came down and shut the mouths of 
lions, so that they did not hurt the good man. 
Peter prayed, and a dead woman came to life. 
Paul prayed, and a young man, who had fallen 
from the third story of the house, and was killed, 
was brought to life. Abraham prayed for Sodom 
and Gomorrah, and the cities would have been 
spared, if there had been ten righteous men in five 
cities. But good men might pray for you; all the 
good men on earth might, and if Christ should not 
also, it would not do you any good. No. And all 
the good spirits in heaven, saints and angels, even 
up to Gabriel, might pray for you, and all would 
not be so good as one prayer of Christ. He is 
worthy. The saints and the angels cast their 
crowns at his feet, and cry, "Thou art w r orthy." 



Lect. 8.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 153 

He knows our wants. 

He is worshipped by all in heaven. He sits on 
the throne with God, and God loves him, and will 
hear him in our behalf. 

2. Christ knows your ivants. 

I sometimes pray with these children, and foi 
them, I shall do so again when this Lecture is 
done. But it is some years since I was a child ; 
and I forget how a child feels, and what his 
wants are. So does every man. Were David 
to pray for you, he would forget how he used to 
feel when a child. So would Abraham, so would 
all heaven. Not so with Jesus Christ. He never 
forgets how he felt when he was a child. He 
can look at once down on the heart, and 
knows every feeling, every fear, every sorrow, 
every want. You can conceal nothing from his 
eye. And when he intercedes for you, he knows 
exactly what you need. He knows better than 
your mother, and even better than you know 
yourself. 



154 CHRIST INTERCEDING. [Lect. 8. 

Ever lives Never changes. 

3. Christ will ever live to intercede for you. 
Good parents may pray for you often. So may 

good ministers. But they cannot do it long. 
They must soon die, and leave you. They will 
soon all be gone. But Christ is alive to-day ; he 
will be alive to-morrow ; he will be alive when 
you come to die, and your soul goes into the eter- 
nal world. And when the graves are opened, 
when the sun goes down to rise no more, and the 
moon and the stars all fade away, he will still live, 
and live to intercede for his disciples. Death will 
take us all away, but he dies no more. 

4. Christ never changes. 

Almost every thing changes. The weather 
changes, the trees change, the flowers change, 
and all things which we see. Friends also change. 
Some go away from us. Some are good friends 
when we are well, but leave us when we are in 
trouble. The severe lines of the poet are often 
true : — 



Lect.S.] CHRIST INTERCEDING. 155 

The waters quench not his love. 

" Tho friends, who in our sunshine live, 
When winter comes, are flown ; 
And he who hast but tears to give, 
Must weep those tears alone." 

Yes, we may all change ; we may be disap- 
pointed, may be in sorrow, may be in sickness, 
be in the agonies of death ; but Christ never 
changes, never leaves us, never forgets us. We 
may sink into the cold, swelling river, and be 
drowning, and our friends stand on the banks, 
not daring to go in after us ; but his love cannot 
be quenched by the cold waters of " many floods. 55 
We shall die, and sleep in the grave. We shall 
awake again at the resurrection day. But in 
all this Christ does not change. " The same 
yesterday, to-day, and forever, 55 he ever liveth to 
intercede for us. O what a Redeemer! " Bless- 
ed, O Lord, is the man who trusteth in thee. 55 
Amen. 



156 



LECTURE I X . 

GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 

Every one of us shall give account of himself to God.— 

Romans 14. 12. 

Contents.— Plain text. The stranger. His account of himself. How dif- 
ferent from the account to God. The merchant. Account of one of these 
boys. Fields, horses, and plants, called to account. The plant producing 
no flower. How a father feels. The house burned. The soul poisoned. 
The father's feelings over a murdered child. Every one must give account. 
How can children sin ? How much does a child sin ? The little rattle- 
snake. What murder is. Anger. The Bible destroyed. The bones 
broken. The Sabbath lost. The child killing people. Conscience. The 
fruit-trees. The broken bowl. Three directions. The Roman emperor 

This seems to be one of the plainest texts in 
the Bible. It tells you who shall give an account ; 
" every one of us." It tells us to whom you shall 
give an account ; " to God ; w and about whom you 
must give the account; "of himself." So far is 
plain. But perhaps these children will mistake, 
after all. Let me make it so plain that you can- 
not mistake it. Suppose, when you go home to- 



Lect. 9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 157 

The stranger. Hs account of himsplf. 

night, a stranger comes into your house, and is 
asked to stay and spend the evening. He is 
very pleasant, and talks with all the family ; and, 
among others, he talks with the children. He 
tells them he has been away off on the great 
waters, in a ship, to catch whales ; that, one day, 
when trying to kill a poor whale, the wounded 
fish turned and struck the ship with his tail, and 
broke it all in pieces ; that he and his few men 
who were not drowned, got into a little boat, and 
rowed off, day and night, for many days, till near- 
ly all were dead, — starved to death; — that they 
were then cast upon a low, desert island, where 
they lived upon fish, and such things, for years, 
till a ship happened to pass that way and took 
them, and brought them home. Thus he tells you 
the whole account of his life. You thank him for 
it. It is an interesting and useful account. You 
love to hear it. But this is not what is meant by 
giving account to God. Why not? Because he 



158 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Lect. 9. 

How different from the account to God. The merchant. 

is noi obliged to give the account to you, unless 
he pleases ; but we must do it to God. Because, 
also, you cannot know whether or not it is the 
true account of his life ; but God will know 
whether we give a true account or not. Because, 
too, you could not reward him for the times when 
he did well, nor punish him when he did wrong ; 
but when we give account to God, he will reward 
us, or punish us, as we have done right or 
wrong. 

A merchant might tell us all about his bargains, 
his ships, his losses, and gains, and the curious things 
with which he has met ; but though the account 
of his life is very interesting, yet it is not such an 
account as we must give to God. A lawyer could 
give you an account of what he has seen, — what 
prisoners tried for stealing, — others for murder, — 
and how the friends were present, and how they 
seemed to be broken-hearted when the sentence 
of death was pronounced ; but this is not such an 
account as we must give to God at last. 



Lect. 9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 159 

Account of one of these boys. 

Suppose that one of those little boys in that 
front seat should now get up, and try to give me 
an account of his whole life. Could he do it in 
such a way as he would have to, if God should 
call him to do it? No. Because he would not 
be likely to remember but a small part of it ; and 
I could not know the rest, as God can. He 
would not feel willing to put into the account all 
the foolish and wicked words he has ever said ; 
the wicked thoughts and feelings he has ever 
had ; nor the wrong things he has ever done. 
And I could not tell them. Besides, I could not 
know how to punish or reward him as he de- 
serves; but God knows just how to do it. I 
should have no right to do it, if I could ; but God 
would have the right. So you see, that it is a 
very different thing to give an account to God 
from what it would be to give it to a man. 

We call almost every thing to account in some 
way or other. Just see. Did you never see a 



160 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Lect. 9. 



Fields, horses, and plants, called to account. 

farmer go out and look carefully at the waving 
wheat in the field, and, taking some of the wheat- 
heads in his hand, rub them to get the wheat out ? 
Why was he doing it ? To see if it had much 
wheat in it, and to see if it were good, full wheat. 
This was a kind of trial, or account, to which he 
was calling his wheat. When a man buys a new 
watch or clock, you will see him examining it 
every day, and looking carefully to see if it goes, 
and goes right. Yes, he calls it to account ; and 
if it goes wrong, or stops, he sends it back, and 
will not keep it. And he would blame it severe- 
ly, if it could understand him, and knew better. 
Let a man own a horse, and keep him, and take 
good care of him, and he will blame the horse, 
and whip him, if he is not kind, and does not 
obey him. The very horse is called to an ac- 
count for his conduct. Yes, if one of these little 
girls had a plant, which she had kept, and watered, 
and taken care of for years, and if it never pro- 




•W/ 3 " 



11 



Lect. 9.1 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 163 

The plant producing no flowers. How a father feels. 

duced one single blossom, she would feel discour- 
aged, and call it to an account, and give it up, 
and let it perish. She would call the frail plant 
to a kind of account, and treat it according to its 
character. She might grieve over her plant, and 
even shed tears to have it turn out so poorly ; but 
she would not keep taking care of it, if it were a 
useless plant, and never blossomed. 

Some seem to think that God does not care 
how we live in this world. But let us see. In 
the Bible, he is called our Father. Does a father 
love to see a child do wrong ? Suppose the father 
of one of you should go away on a journey, and 
should hear, while gone, that a wicked man had 
set his barn on fire, and burned up all his hay 
and his cattle. Would he not feel as if the wicked 
man ought to be called to an account ? Suppose, 
the next day, he should hear that the same wicked 
man had set his house on fire, and had burned it 
to ashes, and, in doing this, had burned up one 



164 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Lect. 9. 

The house burned. The soul poisoned. 

of his dear children. Would he not feel grieved ? 
Would he not think the wicked man ought to be 
called to account, and punished ? Yes, he would. 
Well, do you not suppose our Father in heaven 
feels just so towards those who sin, and do 
wrong ? Suppose I should give one of these dear 
children poison, and should tell him it was food, 
and he should believe me, and it should kill him. 
Ought I not to be called to account, and punished ? 
Certainly I had. But suppose I should, by any 
means, poison the mind, and tell you what is not 
true, and make you lose the soul forever. Ought 
I not to be called to account ? Yes, I ought to 
be. But nobody can do it but God, and he will 
do it. 

Now, suppose, as you go home, and as you get 
away at some distance, you see an old man, with 
gray hair, bending over and leaning on his staff. 
He is looking down towards the ground. As 
you get near him, you see blood on the ground ; 



Lect. 9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 165 

The fathers feelings over a murdered child. 

and you see a little girl lying and bleeding in the 
path just before the old man. She is pale ; her 
eyes are closed ; and the blood runs out of her 
mouth and ears ; and she is dead. She moves 
no more than the stones. She has been murder- 
ed. But who is that old man bending over her ? 
Oh ! he is her father, — and she is his youngest 
child. She was walking with him, and cling- 
ing to his arm, when a wicked man came up, 
and struck her with a club, and, in spite of the 
cries and entreaties of her father, kept striking, 
till she was dead ! What think you ? Does not that 
old man's heart ache ? Does not that good father 
wish to have the murderer called to an account 
and punished ? Yes, he does. He cannot but 
wish so. And so does our Father in heaven feel 
when he sees sin. It may be only anger in the 
heart ; but he sees it so clearly that it is murder 
in his sight. And so he will call us to an account. 
God can no more look upon sin without disliking 



166 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Lect. 9. 

Every one must give account. How can children sin ? 

it, than a father can see his children murdered, 
without wishing the man who does it to be call- 
ed to an account 

Every child knows that every man must give 
account of his conduct to somebody. The child 
must give account to his parents and to his teach- 
ers. The teacher must give a kind of account 
to the parents. The parents must give account 
to conscience, to society around, and to God. 
But has the child much of an account to give to 
God ? Let us see. 

Take one of these children who is eight years 
old. That child has had fifty- two Sabbaths 
every year, for eight years : this is over four 
hundred Sabbaths. Has he kept all these 
Sabbaths holy ? Has no one of them been lost, 
and wasted ? All these have been seasons of 
mercy, in which he might learn about God, and 
Christ, and heaven. But there are three hundred 
and sixty-five days in every year; and so that 



Lect. 9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 167 

How much does a child sin ? 

child has lived almost three thousand days. In 
each day, how many times has he thought of 
God ? In each day, he could disobey his parents 
more than once ; speak cross and wicked words 
more than once ; neglect to pray to God more 
than once, and have many wicked thoughts and 
feelings in his heart. Oh, how many days has 
that child lived and hardly thought of God ! And 
yet, every day, God has awaked him in the morn- 
ing, and fed him with food, and clothed him, and 
kept him alive. When he has been sick, God 
came to the bed-side and cured him. When he 
was in danger of dying, God has made him well ; 
and all these many days, God has been doing 
good to him. Say, has not that child a great 
account to give to God ? 

Some people seem to feel that a child does not 
commit sin ; or, if he does, his sins are few, and 
very small. But I hope you will not feel so, till 
you have thought much upon it. I will examine 
it for a few moments. 



168 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Xect. 9. 

The little rattlesnake. What murder is. Anger. 

All know that it is wrong to be angry. God 
declares that anger in the heart is murder. It 
may not seem to be murder to you. Now, does 
the little beautiful snake, not longer than your 
finger, seem to be a very bad creature? But 
keep him, and feed him, and let him grow ; and 
you will soon see him turning red on the back, 
and hear him hiss with his tongue ; and he is soon 
the deadly rattlesnake, who, with a single bite, 
can kill any body. Just so with anger. If it dies 
away in the heart, nobody but God knows it. If 
it swells still larger, it breaks out in cross looks, 
and cross words, and perhaps makes the hand 
strike. If it swells still larger, it may raise the 
arm, and stab, and kill. The arm does not move 
of itself. No, it is the wicked feelings within 
which move it to kill. 

Now, suppose a dollar in money must be paid 
for every time these children have ever been angry 
in all their lives. Who would be able to pay it ? 
If not one of them could be saved, unless a dollar 



Lect. 9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 1G9 

The Bible destroyed. The bones broken. 

was paid for each angry feeling which he has ever 
had, who could buy his salvation ? who would 
engage to do it ? 

Suppose there were now only one Bible in the 
world, and that one is this lying on the pulpit 
before me. From this one, all the Bibles which 
the world are ever to have, must be copied. And 
suppose God should now speak from heaven, and 
say, "This Bible must lie here one year without 
being moved; and every time one of these children 
commits a single sin, one leaf of the Bible shall 
drop out and perish forever ! " Pray tell me, if 
many, many leaves would not be gone before the 
year is out ? Tell me, if what was left would 
not be a very poor Bible ? And will any body 
say that children do not sin ? 

Suppose, too, that God should say, " I will now 
pardon all the sins which these children have ever 
committed ; all shall be forgiven ; but every child 
who sins after this, shall have one of his bones 



170 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Lect. 9. 

The Sabbath lost. The child killing people. 

broken for every sin which he ever commits ! " 
Do you not think that one and another would soon 
be cripples ? What child here would live a month 
or a week without having some bones broken? 
And will any one say that children do not sin ? 

If God should say, " Take the best child in this 
house, and let him hear what I am to say ; every 
time you break the Sabbath, one Sabbath shall 
forever be taken away out of each year ! n how 
long would it take that child to sin away all our 
Sabbaths ? Do not children sin ? 

Once more. Suppose that one of these chil- 
dren be called out from the rest, — no matter which 
one it is, — but one be called out, to stand up in the 
aisle there, and God should say, " For the first sin, 
and for every sin, which that child commits, the 
person who is nearest to him shall drop down 
dead ; — and so on, as long as he lives, every sin 
shall kill the person who is nearest to him ! " 
Who would not fear? Why, every one in this 



Lect. 9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 171 

Conscience. The fruit-trees. 

house would flee out for his life ; every one would 
run for the door, so as not to be the nearest person. 
And before w r e all got out, a sin would rise up in 
his heart, and one would drop down dead, and then 
another, and perhaps another ! Oh, what a terror 
would that child be ! The angel of death, on his 
pale horse, could not be more feared. And, now, 
will any one say that children do not sin ? And 
have they not a great account to give to God ? 

There is another way by which you may know 
whether or not you are sinners ; and that is, by 
asking your own hearts. Let the boys of a family 
be at play together on a mild afternoon. Their 
father tells them they must be careful and do no 
mischief. But, when he comes home at night, he 
finds some one has cut, and mangled, and killed 
several of his young fruit-trees. One of his boys 
has done it. He calls them to an account. Now, 
who is afraid to be called to the account ? Most 
plainly, the boy who has done the mischief. The 



172 GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. [Lect. 9. 

The broken bowl. Three directions. 

rest are not afraid. So with you. No child 
would be afraid of God, were it not that the heart 
tells him that he is a sinner. A mother comes 
into the room where her little daughters have been 
playing. She finds the cupboard door open, and 
her sugar-bowl all broken in pieces. Which of 
the little girls is now afraid ? Why, the one who 
has done the mischief. And all, who are afraid of 
God, are afraid because they are sinners. And 
all are sinners. Oh, that God would make us 
holy! 

Let me close this Lecture with three short di- 
rections. 

1. Every day be careful how you live — because 
you must give account to God for every day. Do 
nothing of which you will feel ashamed when God 
calls you to account. Omit no duty which God 
tells you to do. You will be sorry for every sin 
when you come to die. 

2. Learn something of God every day. You 



Lect.9.] GIVING ACCOUNT TO GOD. 173 

The Roman emperor. 

may learn about God by thinking of him, talking 
about him, reading about him, and praying to 
him. The more you know about God, the more 
you will fear to sin, and the more you will try to 
please him. 

3. Do something every day which will please 
God, and which will make you glad in the great 
day of accounts. Titus, a heathen emperor, 
through all his life used to call himself to account, 
every night, for the actions of the day past ; and 
when one day had slipped without his doing some 
good, he used to write, " I have lost a day." 
He did not know of a judgment-day; but you 
do ; and therefore lose no day, in which you do 
not something and much to please God. Amen. 



174 



LECTURE X. 

GREAT EVENTS HANG ON LITTLE THINGS. 

A certain man drew a bow at a venture. — 1 Kings 22. 34. 

Contents. — The man and his bow and arrow. What an arrow can do. 
The subject stated. The ship-yard. The worm}' stick. The leaky ship. 
The result. The child and the acorn. The oak. The result. The light- 
house removed. A little mistake. Ship and lives lost. Result. Great 
fires in the forest. Little boy playing with fire. The spark caught. The 
mother of Mohammed. The consequence. How it is with these children. 
What the subject teaches. The tongue. The child did not tell a lie. 
Company, Every day. The little stream. The last thing taught by this 
subject.. 

This chapter gives an account of a war be- 
tween two kingdoms. They were the kingdoms 
of Israel and of Syria. They fought hard, and 
shed much blood. Ahab was king of Israel. 
When going out on the battle-field, he put off 
his kingly dress, and put on such clothes as other 
men wear, lest they should know him and should 
kill him. During the battle, a man (but what 
his name was, or what his history was, we know 



Lect. 10.] LITTLE THINGS. 177 

What an arrow can do. 

not) — a man held his bow and arrow in his 
hand. He thought he would shoot towards the 
army of Israel. He saw no man at whom he 
especially desired to aim. Perhaps he paused a 
moment, and doubted whether he should shoot or 
not. But the arrow was in his hand, and he put 
it to the string of his bow. Now, is it any 
matter whether he shoots or not? He raises the 
bow to shoot. Is it any matter whether he shoots 
one way or another ? Yes ; much depends upon 
his shooting, and which way he takes aim with 
his arrow. He shoots, — the arrow flies, — the 
wind does not turn it aside out of the way, — it 
goes towards a chariot. The harness, at that 
moment, just opens a little at the joints ! There, 
now ! it goes in at that little opening. Hark ! 
there is a groan. It has hit the king ; it has 
killed the king ! Ahab, the great king, who built 
great cities, and built an ivory horse, and who 
carried on great wars, is killed, and the war is 
12 



178 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10 

The subject stated. The ship-yard. The wormy stick. 

put to an end, by that little arrow, which any one 
of these children could have broken with the 
fingers in a moment ! Oh, how much sometimes 
hangs on little things ! 

And this is just what I am wishing to show to 
these children ; that great results do often hang 
on little things. 

Two men were at work together one day in a 
ship-yard. They were hewing a stick of timber 
to put into a ship. It was a small stick, and not 
worth much. As they cut off the chips, they found 
a worm, a little worm, about half an inch long. 

" This stick is wormy," said one ; " shall we 
put it in ? " 

" I do not know ; yes, I think it may go in. 
It will never be seen, of course." 

" Yes, but there may be other worms in it ; 
and these may increase and injure the ship." 

"No, I think not. To be sure, it is not worth 
much ; yet I do not wish to lose it. But come, 



Lect. 10.J LITTLE THINGS. 179 



The leaky ship. 



never mind the worm ; we have seen but one ; — 
put it in." 

The stick was accordingly put in. The ship 
was finished, and as she was launched off into the 
waters, all ready for the seas, she looked beautiful 
as the swan when the breeze ruffles his white, 
feathered bosom, as he sits on the waters. She 
went to sea, and for a number of years did well. 
But it was found, on a distant voyage, that she 
grew weak and rotten. Her timbers were found 
all eaten away by the worms. But the captain 
thought he would try to get her home. He had a 
great, costly load of goods in the ship, such as 
silks, crapes, and the like, and a great many peo- 
ple. On their way home, a storm gathered. The 
ship for a while climbed up the high waves, and 
then plunged down, creaking, and rolling finely. 
But she then sprang a-leak. They had two pumps, 
and the men worked at them day and night ; but 
the water came in faster than they could pump it 



180 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

The result. The child and the acorn. 

out. She filled with water ; and she went down 
under the dark, blue waters of the ocean, with 
all the goods and all the people on board. Every 
one perished. Oh, how many wives, and mothers, 
and children, mourned over husbands, and sons, and 
fathers, for whose return they were waiting, and 
who never returned ! And all, all this, probably, 
because that little stick of timber, with the worm 
in it, was put in, when the ship was built ! How 
much property, and how many lives, may be de- 
stroyed by a little worm ! And how much evil 
may a man do, when he does a small wrong, as 
that man did who put the wormy timber in the 
ship ! 

Suppose a little boy were walking out in the 
fields on some fair day of autumn. As he bounds 
along, he sees something on the ground, which 
looks round and smooth, like a little egg. He 
picks it up. It is an acorn. He carries it a little 
while, and then throws it away. It is a small af- 



Lect. 10.] LITTLE THINGS. 181 

The oak. The result. 

fair, and useless. He forgets it entirely. The 
poor little acorn lies forgotten. The ox comes 
along, and treads it in the ground without ever 
knowing it. It lies and sleeps there in the ox- 
track during the cold winter. In the spring, it 
swells. The little sprout peeps out ; a root grows 
down, and two little leaves open on the top of 
the ground. It lives and grows. During a hun- 
dred years it grows, while men live and die, and 
while many a storm beats upon it. It is now a 
giant oak. It is made into a mighty ship, and 
laden with goods ; she sails round the world, and 
does her errands at many hundreds of places. 
She bears the flag of her nation on her mast, 
and her nation is honored for her sake. What 
great things may spring from small ones ! Who 
would have thought that such a little thing could 
contain the mighty oak in it ? Besides this, that 
one tree bears acorns enough, every year, to raise a 
thousand more oaks ; and these, every year, bear 



182 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

Light-house removed. 

enough to rear ten thousand more. Thus a whole 
forest may be shut up in the little bud of a single 
acorn. What great things may be found in little 
things ! 

I wish to have you see this so clearly, that you 
cannot forget it, because it will be of great use to 
you, all the way through life, if remembered. 

In a dark night, there was once a ship coming 
into one of our harbors. She had been to India 
on a long voyage, and had been gone a year or 
two. She had a very costly cargo, or load, on 
board. The captain and all in her were hoping 
and expecting soon to see their friends, and their 
homes. The sailors had brought out their best 
clothes, and were clean and neat. As they came 
bounding along over the foaming waters, and drew 
near to the land, the captain told a man to go up 
to the top of the mast, and " look out for the light- 
house." The light-house is a high, round kind of 
a tower, built out on the points of the land, with 



Lect. 10.] LITTLE THINGS. 183 



A little mistake. 



great lamp£ lighted every night in its top, so that 
vessels may see it before they get too near the 
land. This light-house stood at the entrance of 
the harbor. Pretty soon, the man cried out, 
"Light ahead!" Then they all rejoiced, and 
knew they were near the harbor. 

Now, while they had been gone, this light- 
house had been removed to another place. But 
the captain knew nothing about that. So they 
kept sailing in what, they supposed, was the old 
way. In a short time, the man at the mast-head 
cries out, "Breakers ahead ! n that is, rocks just 
before us, and the ship is just on them. The 
captain just cast his eye out on the dark waters, 
and saw the white foam of the rocks. In a mo- 
ment, he cries out, " Starboard the helm." Now, 
see how much may hang on one little word. 
The man at the helm mistook the word, and 
thought the captain said, " Larboard the helm." 
So he turned it the wrong way. It was done in 



184 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

Ship and lives lost. Result. 

a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. But it 
was turned the wrong way ; and the ship struck 
on the rocks the next moment, and was dashed 
in a thousand pieces. The cargo was lost, and 
every soul on board, except one or two, were 
drowned. All this hung upon one little word, 
one little mistake. If that word had been under- 
stood right, she would not have been lost. One 
single mistake, small as it seemed to be, brought 
about all this ruin and death. Do you not see 
how plain it is, that great results may turn upon 
very small things ? One moment of time turned 
the scale, and property and lives all go down into 
the deep. There the goods are destroyed, and 
there the human beings sleep till the great 
morning of the resurrection-day. 

In the new country, that is, in those new 
states where the great forests are not cut down, 
and where only a few people live, the fire some- 
times, when it is dry in the autumn, gets into 



Lect. 10.] LITTLE THINGS. 185 

Great fires in the forest. Little boy playing- with fire. 

the woods. It burns the dry leaves, the dry 
limbs and twigs, and dry trees, and even the 
green trees. Sometimes it gets so hot, that no- 
body can go near it. It leaps from tree to tree, 
burning and crackling, and rushing on like a 
fierce army in battle. A thousand war-horses 
could not make more noise ; and, in the night, 
it throws up its flames, and is seen a great way 
off. Sometimes it goes almost a hundred miles 
before it can be stopped. Now, see what this 
has to do with my Lecture. 

A little boy was playing one day just at the 
edge of the woods. His mother was gone ; and 
though he knew it was wrong, yet he went into 
the house, and brought out some fire. He felt 
that it was wrong, but thought that nobody 
would ever know it. He played with the fire 
awhile, and it did no hurt. At length, the wind 
blew a spark into the woods, and the dry leaves 
caught — they blazed — the whole woods were on 



186 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

The spark caught. 

fire. On the fire went, kindled into a great 
flame, raging and burning all before it. For 
whole days, and even weeks, it roared and raged 
without hurting any body. But one day, when 
the wind blew hard, it burned on faster and 
more awfully. And, as it swept through the 
forest, it passed by a small, new house, which a 
poor man had just built, almost in the middle 
of the forest, on some land which he had just 
bought. The man was gone away. When at a 
great distance, he saw the fire, and hastened 
home as fast as possible. But, oh, w r hat a sight ! 
The woods were all burned black. Not a leaf 
was left. They looked like a funeral. His little 
house and barn were burned up, and, what was 
worse, his faithful wife and little child — all were 
burned up. On the spot where he left them hap- 
py in the morning, nothing was left but a pile of 
smoking ashes. 

All this, all this, because that little boy dis- 



Lect. 10] LITTLE THINGS. 187 

The mother of Mohammed. The consequence. 

obeyed his mother, and played with fire ! All 
this from one little spark of fire ! How much, 
how very much, may hang on little things ! 

Let me give you one example more. Almost 
twelve hundred years ago, in a distant country, 
there was a mother with an infant in her arms. 
She was not a Christian mother. Now, it would 
seem as if that little infant was of no conse- 
quence. Ten thousand such might die, and the 
world would hardly know it. It would seem, 
too, as if it was of no great consequence whether 
or not that child be instructed about God and 
Jesus Christ, and be taught to serve God. He 
was not so taught. What was the result ? He 
grew up, became a man, made a new religion, 
which is called Mohammedanism. He taught 
people to believe the most foolish and wicked 
lies, and to practise the most wicked things. 
He made them believe that he was a prophet of 
God, and that God would be pleased to have 



188 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

How it is with these children. 

them kill every body on earth who will not be- 
lieve Mohammedanism. They are a most bloody, 
cruel, wicked people. Millions of such have 
lived, and are now living. And what is worse 
than all, God says that he will cast them all 
away into hell forever and ever. Read the 19th 
chapter of Revelation, and see what an awful 
doom is before them. 

Now, all this seemed to turn upon the point, 
whether that little infant should be taught to be 
a Christian or not. Had he belonged to a Sab- 
bath School, and been taught as you are taught, 
I do believe he would never have told such wick- 
ed lies, and led away millions of men after him, 
who will perish forever. Wicked man! he 
lived only to do mischief, and began a great evil, 
which has not yet been checked. How thank- 
ful ought you to be, who have Christian mothers 
to watch over you, to pray for you, and to teach 
you from the Bible ! Else you might not only 



Lect. 10] LITTLE THINGS. 189 

What the subject teaches. The tongue. 

live in vain, but be lost, and be the means of 
leading others to eternal ruin. How much good 
or evil may hang on a single child ! 

Let me, now, my dear children, tell you what 
this subject ought to teach you. Let me show 
you what the great truth, that great results may 
hang on little things, should teach you. 

1 . Be careful what you say. 

The tongue is a little member; but it does 
immense evil. Let a child drop one wicked 
word, and another may catch it, and remember it, 
and follow the example, and become a wicked 
child and a wicked man. Let a child tell one lie, 
and he may thus begin a course of lying which 
will ruin him for this life and the next. Says a 
good man, speaking of his dear child, then in the 
grave, " When he was about three years old, an 
aged female, at whose house he was staying for a 
day, informed me that William had told a false- 
hood. I was thunder-struck, and almost distract- 



190 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

The child did not tell a lie. 

ed ; for the information seemed to blast my most 
cherished hopes. This might, I thought, be the 
commencement of a series of evils forever ruinous 
to our peace. I am not sure that my agony, on 
hearing of his death, was much more intense than 
that which I then endured, from an apprehension 
of his guilt. Instantly, but without betraying my 
emotions, I asked him what he had said. He 
answered, at once, in so artless a manner, as to 
convince me that my boy was yet innocent. I 
pursued the inquiry, and, in a few moments, found, 
to my inexpressible joy, that he was perfectly 
correct in all he had stated." You see how 
a good father abhors a single lie. God abhors 
it much more. And one lie will lead to others ; 
one wicked word to others ; one foolish word to 
others. Remember that God hears every word, 
and will call you to an account for every word, at 
the great day of judgment. 



Lect. 10] LITTLE THINGS. 191 

Company. Every day. 

2. Be careful what company you keep. 

You may think of God, and think you will 
serve him; but one half hour spent in wicked 
company w r ill drive all that is good far from you. 
You may hear a wicked word which you never 
heard before. Where did these children ever hear 
wicked words? Did their parents teach them 
these words ? No. But you learned every 
one of them in bad company. Where did you 
learn wicked thoughts? Surely, no where but 
in bad company. One wicked boy may spoil 
many more. He may spoil their manners, spoil 
their language, spoil their innocent feelings, spoil 
their obedience to God and to their parents. See 
to it, that you are not thus spoiled. When you 
hear one word from any body, which you feel that 
your parents would not say, be sure that is bad 
company. Flee from it at once. 

3. Be careful to fear God and live for him 
every day. 



192 LITTLE THINGS. [Lect. 10. 

The little stream. 

Every child can easily form habits of sin. 
They are formed very easily indeed. One day 
spent without thinking of God, or praying to him, 
will prepare for another. One Sabbath broken, 
will fit you to break another. One day spent in sin, 
will only fit your heart for sin to dwell in. Would 
you dig away the dam which keeps in the great 
mill-pond ? You need only dig a little place, and 
let out a little stream, and the whole will rush 
through after it. There may be multitudes lost 
forever, whose ruin might be traced back to their 
conduct on a single day. 

4. Be careful what you do. 

Do you see a thing which you want, but which 
is not yours ? Do not covet it ; for you may thus 
begin those covetous feelings which will keep you 
out of heaven. Had Judas not coveted the first 
thing which he did covet, he would never have 
been so wicked as to sell the blessed Redeemer. 
Does your eye see something which you want, 



Lect. 10.] LITTLE THINGS. 193 

The last thing taught by this subject. 

■ ■ $ 

and does your little hand want to stretch itself 
out, and take it ? Oh, do it not do it not ! This 
is stealing. And this may lead you on till you are 
a thief, till you are shut up in the dungeon, and 
shut up in hell. Remember that you ought not 
to do any thing, upon which you cannot go and 
ask the blessing of God in prayer. The eye of 
the great God is ever upon you ; and your eternity 
may hang upon the conduct of an hour. Remem- 
ber this, and be afraid to sin. Amen. 



13 



194 



LECTURE XI. 

FRAGMENTS ALL TO BE SAVED. 

Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. — 

John 6. 12. 

Contents. — The goldsmith's shop. The mountains weighed. The stars 
named. The little gleaners. Christ feeding the multitude. Wrong to 
waste things. Wrong to waste money. The deep river. Brimstone 
matches. The expensive drink. Hamilton's duel. Life wasted. The 
sailor's dream. The ring. The ring lost. Burning mountains. The ring 
recovered. The dream supposed to be true and real. Limbs lost. The 
Bible wasted. The mind ruined. Six things seen. The soul — the soul. 

I suppose most of these children have been 
into the shop of a goldsmith. A goldsmith is a man 
who works in gold, and makes beads, and rings, 
and other things, out of gold. If you have ever 
been in such a shop, did you see the man work at 
the gold ? What fine and beautiful tools he has ! 
what little saws, and files, and drills to bore with ! 
And then he is very careful not to waste any 
gold. When he files it, or bores it, he is very 
careful to have a fine, soft brush, with which to 



Lect. 11.] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 195 

The mountains vveig-hed. 

sweep up every grain of gold, even the smallest 
and finest dust. He is very careful not to lose 
any fragments. 

Did you ever read the 40th chapter of Isaiah ? 
How wonderfully is the great God described 
there ! When he spread out the mighty heavens 
over our heads, " he measured " them, so as not 
to have them too large or too small. When he 
made the great waters, he " measured w them, so 
as not to have a drop too much or too little. 
When he made the hills and the lofty mountains, 
he " weighed the mountains in a scale, and the 
hills in a balance, 5 ' so as to have not a grain of 
sand, or a single atom, too much or too little ; not 
because God has not water enough, and ground 
enough, but because he would teach us to waste 
nothing. Every fragment must be saved and used. 

Go out, on some bright, star-light evening, and 
look up. What a multitude of stars ! How 
thick they are ! If many of them should go out 



196 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. 11. 

The stars named. 

forever, we should not know it. And if new 
stars were to be added to them, we should not 
know it. They may seem useless to us. We 
cannot count them. But God knows every one, 
and has not made one too many nor one too few. 
David says, " He telleth the number of the stars ; 
he calleth them all by their names." What a 
family ! All have names, and all 

'* Forever singing, as they shine, 
* The hand that made us is divine ! ' " 

Have these children never been out in the time 
of harvest, and seen the men reap the wheat and 
rye ? They cut down the waving grain with the 
greatest care, and then bind it in bundles, and 
then carefully carry it home on the cart. They 
try not to lose any, because every kernel will 
make a little flour. But after all their care, they 
do lose some. Some heads of wheat do drop out, 
and some kernels will shell out. God knew this 



Lect. 11.] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 197 

The little gleaners. Christ feeding- the multitude. 

would be so. But he would have nothing lost ; 
and so he has made " the little gleaners," such as 
the little bird and the squirrel, to follow the har- 
vest, and pick up the fragments, that nothing 
be lost. 

So Jesus Christ teaches us. He preached 
out in the open fields, for he had no meeting- 
house ; and, if he had, it would not have held half 
who wanted to hear him preach. A great many 
thousands followed him ; and when he had taught 
them for a great while, and found that, under the 
hot sun, they were weary and hungry, he had 
them sit down on the grass in companies. I 
suppose this was so that neighbors and friends 
might sit together, and, also, so that they might 
be counted. He blessed the bread, which was 
only five loaves, and the fishes, which were only 
two little ones ; and they all ate enough. One 
loaf of bread was enough for a thousand people, 
after Christ had blessed it. After they had done 



198 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. 11. 

Wrong- to waste things. 

eating, he told the disciples to gather up the 
fragments, that nothing be lost. So they gather- 
ed up the pieces and the crumbs, and had each 
of them a basket full. Now, Christ could have 
made bread enough to feed the world. He does 
make enough for every mouth every year. And 
he could make it at any time. But he w 7 ould 
have nothing lost. The twelve baskets of frag- 
ments would do for the poor, and do for the 
disciples at another time. 

You see what I am teaching you in this 
Lecture. It is, that it is tvrong to waste any 
thing. 

Give me your thoughts, and follow w 7 hat I say, 
and see if it be not so. Shall I have your close 
attention ? Yes. I see, by the looks of every 
little boy and every little girl, that I shall. 

Suppose you know of a narrow river, where 
the waters are dark, and almost black. They 
are deep, too — so deep that no one, with the 



Lect. 11] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 199 

Wrong to waste money. The deep river. 

longest pole, can reach the bottom. The stream 
runs swift, too ; so that, if you drop any thing 
into that river, it sinks, and can never be found 
again. Now, suppose, just on the bank of this 
river, a little way back, there is a little cottage. 
It is very small. And in it is a poor widow and 
five or six little children. The woman is sick 
and poor, and can neither work nor buy food for 
her hungry children. She is in great distress. 
Suppose a man lives not far off, who has money, 
a great deal of money. He hardly knows what 
to do with it. So, every night, he comes just 
before that cottage, where the poor children are 
crying for food, and there drops a dollar into that 
river. It sinks, and is lost forever. To-morrow 
night he will do so again, and so every night, 
while that wretched family are starving. Now, 
does he not do wrong ? Has he a right thus to 
drop his money into the river, and let poor 
children suffer? No, no ; he has no right to do 



200 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. 11. 

The brimstone matches. 

it. But suppose, instead of throwing it in the 
river, he spends it for something which he does 
not want, and which will do him no good. Is 
this right ? No. It is wasted, even then. Sup- 
pose he spends it for something fine and showy, 
but which is really of no use. Is that right? 
No. It is still wasted. You see, then, that it is 
wrong to waste money, when people are starving. 
A Bible can be printed and bound, and sent to 
a poor family, or to a poor child who has none, 
for fifty cents. Some gentlemen went out, one 
day, to ask such as choose to give, for money, in 
order to send the Bible to the heathen, who have 
none. They went to one house and another, and 
at last went up to a house to go in, where they 
were not acquainted. As they stopped on the 
door-steps, they overheard the gentleman of the 
house talking to a girl in the kitchen for wasting 
a new match every time she wanted to light a 
candle. This, they thought, was real stinginess. 



Lect. 11.] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 201 

The expensive drink. 

" Let us go," says one ; " we shall get nothing 
here. A man who scolds about a match will 
never give any thing." 

" We can but try," said the other. 

They went in, and told their errand. The 
gentleman took out his purse, and gave them 
more than any one had done, enough to send a 
hundred Bibles to the heathen. They were as- 
tonished at his giving so much. They told him 
how they had overheard him talking about the 
match, and did not expect any thing from him. 

" Oh, this is the very reason," said the gentle- 
man, " why I can give so much to send the Bible. 
I allow nothing to be wasted, and thus, by saving 
all, I have money with which to do good." 

But people love to spend their money for 
handsome and fine things, rather than use it to 
send the Bible to those who have not any Bible. 
I know they do. But do they do right ? Sup- 
pose there is a kind of drink that you love very 



202 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. 11. 

Hamilton's duel. 

much. It tastes so good, you could drink a 
whole tumbler full ; — but this drink, though it 
does not hurt you now, will, in the end, shorten 
your life one minute for every drop you taste ; 
one minute for every drop ; one hour for every 
tea-spoon full ; one year for every tumbler full. 
Would it be right for you to drink this awful 
drink, though you do love it ? No. No. You 
know it would not be right. You have no right 
to waste your own life. You may not throw 
aw T ay a year, nor a fragment. All must be gath- 
ered up. Nor have you a right to waste money 
because you love the useless things which it will 
buy, any more than to waste life by such a mis- 
erable drink. 

There was once a man by the name of Ham- 
ilton. He was a great man, a friend of Wash- 
ington, a friend to his country, and a man who 
was greatly respected and beloved. But in an 
evil hour he engaged to fight a duel. Itw r aswith 



Lect. 11.] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 203 



Life wasted. The sailor's dream. 

a man who never missed his aim, and, therefore, 
Hamilton felt certain that he should be killed. 
He told no one. But the evening before, he 
went to the flower shop, and bought a beautiful 
bunch of flowers for his wife, and for each of his 
children. These he carried home, and gave them 
the evening before the duel. They took them 
with smiles, little thinking that on the morrow 
their dear father would be brought home to die. 
He bade them good night ; and the next morning, 
before any of them had risen, he had fought the 
duel, and was brought home wounded, and was 
soon to die. I cannot tell you how that family 
felt. But I can ask you a question here ; was it 
right for this man thus to throw away his life ? 
He had a right to gather the beautiful roses, and 
carry them home to wither ; but he had no right 
to fight a duel, and lose his life. 

When John Newton was a common sailor, and 
verv wicked, he tells us he had this remarkable 
dream. " The scene presented to my imagination 



204 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. 11. 

The ring. 

was the harbor of Venice, where we had lately 
been, I thought it was night, and my watch up- 
on the deck ; and that, as I was walking to and 
fro by myself, a person came to me (I do not re- 
member from whence), and brought me a ring, 
with an express charge to keep it carefully ; as- 
suring me that, while I preserved that ring, I should 
be happy and successful ; but if I lost or parted 
with it, I must expect nothing but trouble and 
misery. I accepted the present and the terms 
willingly, not in the least doubting my own care 
to preserve it, and highly satisfied to have my 
happiness in my own keeping. I was enga- 
ged in these thoughts, when a second person 
came to me, and, observing the ring on my fin- 
ger, took occasion to ask me some questions con- 
cerning it. I readily told him its virtues ; and his 
answer expressed a surprise at my weakness, in 
expecting such effects from a ring. I think he 
reasoned with me some time upon the impossibil- 
ity of the thing ; and at length he urged me in 



Lect 11.] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 205 



The ring - thrown away. The burning mountains. 



direct terms to throw it away. At first I was 
shocked at the proposal ; but his insinuations 
prevailed. I began to reason and doubt, and at 
last plucked it off my finger, and dropped it over 
the ship's side into the water, which it had no 
sooner touched, than I saw, at the same instant, 
a terrible fire burst out from a range of moun- 
tains (a part of the Alps), which appeared at 
some distance behind the city of Venice. I saw 
the hills as distinct as if awake, and that they 
were all in flames. I perceived, too late, my 
folly ; and my tempter, with an air of insult, in- 
formed me, that all the mercy God had in reserve 
for me was comprised in that ring, which I had 
wilfully thrown away. I understood that I must 
go with him to the burning mountains, and that 
all the flames I saw were kindled on my account. 
I trembled, and was in great agony ; so that it 
was surprising I did not then awake ; but my 
dream continued, and when I thought myself on 
the point of a constrained departure, and stood 



206 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. 11. 

The ring recovered. 

self-condemned, without plea or hope, suddenly 
either a third person, or the same who brought me 
the ring at first (I am not certain which), came 
to me, and demanded the cause of my grief. I 
told him the plain case, confessing that I had ru- 
ined myself wilfully, and deserved no pity. He 
blamed my rashness, and asked if I should be 
wiser, supposing I had my ring again ? I could 
hardly answer to this, for I thought it was gone 
beyond recall. I believe, indeed, I had no time 
to answer, before I saw this unexpected friend go 
dow r n under the water, just in the spot where I 
had dropped it, and soon returned, bringing the 
ring with him ! The moment he came on board, 
the flames in the mountains ceased, and my se- 
ducer left me. Then was ' the prey taken from 
the hand of the mighty, and the lawful captive 
delivered.' My fears were at an end, and, with 
joy and gratitude, I approached my kind deliverer 
to receive the ring again ; but he refused to re- 
turn it, and spoke to this effect : l If you should 



Lect. 11.] FRAGMENTS SAVED. 207 

Suppose the dream true and real. 

be intrusted with this ring again, you would very 
soon bring yourself into the same distress. You 
are not able to keep it, but I will preserve it for 
you, and whenever it is needful, will produce it in 
your behalf.' Upon this I awoke in a state of 
mind not to be described." 

This was a dream ; but had it been real, and 
had the ring been a real ring, and able to make 
him happy as long as he kept it, I ask you, if he 
would not have done wrong, and have been very 
wicked, in throwing it away into the sea ? I 
know you will say, Yes, Had all of these dear 
children a ring put on their first finger, which 
could make them happy as long as they kept it, 
would they not be foolish, and wicked, to throw 
it away ? Suppose you had such a ring, and, as 
you went home, you should meet with a wicked 
child, who should try to persuade you to throw it 
away, — would you not do wrong to listen to him a 
single moment ? 



208 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect.1L 

Limbs lost. The Bible wasted. 

Suppose that you are very fond of a certain 
kind of food. It does not hurt you now, but 
some time hence it will hurt you. It will cause 
you to lose a finger, and then an arm, and then a 
foot. Would it be right for you to eat it, though 
you were fond of it ? You all say, No, it would 
not be right. Our hands, and our arms, and our 
feet, are too valuable to be wasted in this manner. 

If each of you had a beautiful new Bible given 
you, and it was the only one you could ever have 
in this world, would it not be wrong to throw it 
away? Would it not be wrong to tear out its 
leaves and burn them ? Would it not be wrong 
to take a pen and blot out whole verses, so that 
you could not read them ? Yes, I am sure you 
will all say, yes, it would be wrong. And why ? 
Because the Bible is too valuable to be wasted. 

Suppose you know of a fine little boy, who 
behaves well, and learns well, and who has a 
bright eye, and a bright mind looking out of that 
eye. He is the hope of his parents. He may 



Lect. 11.1 FRAGMENTS SAVED. 209 

The mind ruined. Six things seen. 

make a minister of the gospel, or a very useful 
man, if he lives. And suppose that two or three 
of these children should get together and lay a 
plan to scare that little boy on some dark night. 
They do it. They scare the poor child so much 
that he loses his reason, and will be crazy all the 
rest of his life ! I ask you, would not this be very 
wicked, very wrong ? I knowyou will say, Yes, yes. 
And why ? Because the mind is too valuable to 
be thus wasted and destroyed in sport. Very true. 
Now, if you have heard what I have been say- 
ing, you see, 

1. That it is wrong to waste property, because 
it is too valuable. Christ would not allow the 
crumbs to be wasted. Property will feed and 
clothe the poor, and send the Bible to those who 
have none. 

2. That it is wrong to waste our lives, — be- 
cause life is too valuable to be thrown away. 

3. That it is wrong to waste our happiness, — 
it is too precious. 

14 



210 FRAGMENTS SAVED. [Lect. ft. 

The soul — the soul. 

4. That it is wrong to waste our limbs, such 
as hands and feet. 

5. That it would oe wrong to waste and throw 
away the Bible, or any part of it. 

6. That it w T ould be very wrong to destroy the 
mind, even of a child, because the mind is too 
valuable to be wasted. 

And now, dear children, what shall I say to 
you of the soul- — the soul — which will never 
die ? If it be wrong to waste other things, is it 
not much more so to throw away your thoughts, 
your feelings, and, at last, your soul itself? Oh, 
you may be careful of property, and of life, and 
happiness, and limbs, and the Bible, and the mind ; 
but if you neglect the soul, and do not see to 
that, you are miserable forever. All other things 
are nothing, of no value, when laid by the side of 
the soul. I beg you, then, as you gather up the 
fragments about the soul, not to forget and neg- 
lect the soul itself. That must live forever. 
Amen. 



211 



LECTURE XII. 

THE SABBATH TO BE KEPT HOLY. 
Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. — Ex. 20. 8. 

Contents. — Picture-books. Parables of Christ. A new parable. The 
offer. The wreck of the ship. The Life-Boat. Life-boat in use. The 
parable explained. The foolish excuses. Who would be a thief? The 
poor beggar. The house broken open. Little thieves. What makes peo- 
ple poor. A strong reason. Story by the Author. Duty put off. The 
school not together. The foolish superstition. What makes a man stupid ? 
The corpse. Mill going on the Sabbath. Little boy crushed by the wheel. 
Sad thoughts. Scene remembered. Instruction. Poetry. Conclusion 

Children, your little books are full of pictures. 
One has in it the picture of a horse ; another a 
house, trees, rivers, birds, and hills. Suppose I 
wanted to make a little boy understand about a 
lion, how he looks, how he acts, and the like. 
What would be the best way? The best way 
would be to lead him out, and let him see a lion. 
But if I could not do it, the next best way would 
be to show him the picture of a lion. This picture 



212 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

Parables of Christ. A new parable. 

would give him a better idea of it than any thing 
I could tell him about a lion. 

Just so Jesus Christ used to preach. He used 
to teach in parables, which are a kind of picture- 
preaching. In this way, he used to make things 
plain and very interesting to those who heard him. 
Now, I am going to give you a parable. Try and 
see if you can understand it, and remember it. 

There was once a good man who was very rich. 
I cannot stop to tell you all the good things which 
he did, but will mention only one. He built a large 
and beautiful ship all at his own expense. He 
fitted up the ship with a Pilot who knew the coast, 
and a helm by which to steer her, and a compass 
to point out the way they were sailing. She had 
every thing ready. He then called his friends to- 
gether, and said, " See, here is a beautiful ship, 
filled with costly goods, and all fitted and ready to 
sail. Every thing is ready. You may have her, and 
have every thing on board. You may go and trade 



Lect. 12.] THE SABBATH. 213 

The offer. The wreck of the ship. 

where you please, on one condition. Not one of 
you may carry or drink a drop of ardent spirit. 
This is the only condition I make ; and I make 
this, because, otherwise, you will get the ship on 
the rocks, and will all be lost." The men take 
the ship on this condition, and set sail for a distant 
country. They had been out on the water but a 
little while, before one of them brought forward 
some ardent spirit, which he said he had taken for 
sickness, and to make him feel better, though he 
had no wish to disobey him who gave them the ship. 
So he drank ; and, one by one, they all drank, till 
they knew not how to manage the ship. They 
were intoxicated by the drink. Then came on the 
dark night. The cold, wet winds blew, and the 
whole ocean foamed and rolled up its great waves 
most fearfully. The ship was carried onward and 
onward, till she struck upon a great flat rock. 
Here she turned on one side, and lay, every mo- 
ment creaking, as if going to pieces. The peo- 



214 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

The life-boat. 

pie on board were too much intoxicated to do any 
thing. The morning comes, and it is cold, and the 
spray of the water, upon the poor ship, freezes in 
a moment, and the people are chilled, and cold, 
and hardly able to hold themselves where they are. 
They have got over their intoxication just enough 
to know where they are. The shore is near, but 
no. one can get to it. The high waves roll and 
dash, and a boat cannot go from the shore to the 
ship. It would be turned over and sunk in a mo- 
ment. The people all gather down on the shore, 
and see the ship, and the freezing people on board, 
but cannot help them. 

But, look ! who is that man who hastens down 
to the water's side? It is the good man who 
fitted up the ship, and gave her to these people. 
He sees they have disobeyed him, and ruined the 
ship, but he feels deeply for them. What is he 
going to do? See there! He has built a little 
boat of costly materials, and made it to hold air, 



. , {{)(((([ 




Lect. 12.] THE SABBATH. 217 

Life-boat in use. 

and filled it with his own breath. That little boat 
cannot be sunk. It will live and swim any where. 
It is called the Life-Boat, because it can go out 
on the stormy water, and save the lives of perish- 
ing men who are shipwrecked. It is now launch- 
ed out on the waters ! But who is in it ? It is 
the only son of that good man ! See ! it bounds 
and drives from wave to wave like a feather — 
straight to the ship ! The poor people on board 
gaze upon it. They are perishing ! There, now, 
one has dropped over in the waves, and is lost ! 
No, — the life-boat has picked him up ! One and 
another gets in, and the little boat shoots off over 
the stormy water for the shore. Again and again 
it comes, and will hasten backwards and forwards 
all day, till dark, so that all may have the oppor- 
tunity of getting on shore, if they please. But 
some are ashamed to see the face of that good 
man on shore, and so they hesitate, and do not get 
into the life-boat. They had rather perish where 
they are. 



218 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12, 

The parable explained. 

Now, tell me, is not that a very kind and good 
man ? You all say, Yes. And is not that life- 
boat an admirable contrivance ? You all say, Yes. 
And are not those who will not get into it very 
foolish ? Yes. 

Well, then, you have my parable. Do you 
understand it ? The world is the ship, and God 
is the good man who built it, and gave it to us- 
We have become intoxicated with sin, are ruined, 
and lost. The Sabbath is the life-boat, which 
comes regularly from the shores of eternity, and 
offers to carry us near to God, and to safety. 

But I want to talk a little longer about this 
shipwreck, and this life-boat ; and I do it so 
that you need not forget it. He who neglects 
or refuses to keep the Sabbath holy, refuses to 
leave the wreck of the ship, and chooses to 
brave the storms and the ruin which will one day 
consume the whole world to ashes. Is this wise ? 
Is this safe ? Is this being grateful to God ? 
Suppose some one on the wreck of the ship 



Lect. 11] THE SABBATH. 219 

The foolish excuses. 

should laugh at the little life-boat, and say, " It 
can never carry any one to the shore." Would it 
be wise to mind him ? Suppose some should say, 
"We are too busy, and we wish to drink a little 
more of that intoxicating drink, before we go." 
Would that be wise, and should others do like 
them ? Suppose others, again, should say, " We 
intend to go in the boat before night, but as we 
are ashamed to see the face of the good man 
whom we have disobeyed, we will not go now, 
but will wait awhile." Is this wise ? Is this 
safe ? 

Just so people do, who neglect to keep the 
Sabbath holy. They hear others speak lightly 
of religion, and so they let this life-boat come 
and go, once every week, and do not improve it. 
Or they are busy, and want to drink in more sin, 
and so they say, " Not now." Or they are 
ashamed to go and confess to God, and so they 
say they are going to improve the Sabbath, and 



220 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

Who would be a thief? The poor beggar. 

serve Go(J at some time, before the night of 
death comes; but are not yet ready. Is this 
wise ? Will you be like them ? I trust not. 

Who would be a thief? I suppose there is 
not a child present who does not think it very 
mean, and low, and wicked, to steal. You would 
despise the little boy who would put your ball or 
your top into his pocket, and thus steal it ; and 
the little girl who would put a doll or a pin-cushion 
in her bag, and carry it home, would be despised 
as mean and wicked. But suppose a poor man, 
who w r as without any home, should come to 
your house, almost without clothing, and very 
hungry. You all at once pity him. You give 
him food to eat, and your mother looks him up 
some clothing. And as he goes away, warm 
and comfortable, your father says to him, " Here, 
poor man, here are six dollars. I have but 
seven in the world, and give you six of them, 
and will keep only the seventh for myself and 



Lect. 12. J THE SABBATH. 221 



The house broken open. 



family." Would not this be very kind and gen- 
erous in your father? I know you all think it 
would. But suppose that poor man went away, 
not thankful in the least, and, in the night, came 
back, and broke into your house, and stole that 
seventh and last dollar which your father has. 
What would he deserve ? Why, he would al- 
most deserve the gallows. He would be an 
ungrateful monster, and a vile thief. But sup- 
pose, also, that, in breaking into the house, to get 
the dollar, he had to kill several members of the 
family. What now do you say ? Is any punish- 
ment too severe? But take care, or you pass 
sentence upon yourself. 

We are the poor man, and God has but seven 
days in the week. He gives us six of these, in 
which to " labor and do all our work," and keeps 
only the seventh for himself. And the man, or 
the woman, or the child, who breaks the Sab- 
bath, steals from God. Yes, he robs God. And, 



222 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

Little thieves. What makes people poor. 

in doing it, he sets a wicked example, which kills 
the souls of others. Is not this stealing? Will 
you remember, then, that when you break the 
Sabbath, you steal from God ? Are there no 
little thieves present, who have often thus stolen 
from God ? Now, will God bless you and pros- 
per you in doing so ? 

You see why the families who break the Sab- 
bath, and who do not go to meeting, are generally 
so poor and so miserable. It is because they 
steal from God every seventh day of their lives ; 
and God will not, and does not bless them in it. 
Merchants who keep their counting-rooms open 
on the Sabbath, generally fail in business, and 
lose all the property they have. A gentleman 
took notice, in New York, for twenty-five years, 
that every merchant who thus broke the Sabbath, 
failed, without a single exception. And a great 
lawyer in this country, who helped to try very 
many for murder, says, that they all began their 
wickedness by breaking the Sabbath. 



Lect. 12 ] THE SABBATH. 223 

Strong reason. Story by the author. 

I have a strong reason why I feel very anxious 
to have these children remember the Sabbath day, 
and keep it holy. And I will now give you this 
strong reason. 

Many years ago, while I was in college, I 
opened a Sabbath School in a distant, neglected 
neighborhood, yet within the limits of the town. 
At first, the project was greatly ridiculed, and 
many opposed. But ridicule and opposition soon 
give way to a good cause, and in a short time 1 
had seventy scholars. The room in which we 
met was an unfinished chamber of a poor, lame 
woman — the only place that was offered. The 
floor was not nailed down, and neither ceiling nor 
plaster had ever been seen in the chamber. The 
chimney passed up in the centre, and the bare 
rafters were over our heads. Yet never did I see 
brighter or happier faces than among the little 
groups with which I regularly met. They lived 
so far from meeting, that few could attend ; or, 



224 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

Duty put off. 

rather, their parents felt too indifferent to carry 
them ; so that their Sabbath School embraced all 
that was Sabbath to them. It is now many years 
since, and I suppose they have all grown up, or 
have been removed into eternity ere this time ; but 
I can never forget this, my first Sabbath School, 
nor the happy countenances which composed it. 

One hot Sabbath, I had walked out to meet my 
Sabbath School, and, at the close of the lessons, I 
felt weary and unwell. The children were ex- 
pecting me to give them a history of the holy 
Sabbath, from its first appointment, and to tell 
them why God appointed it, and what are our 
duties in regard to it ; for so I had promised them, 
and had in fact prepared myself to do it. But, 
being weary and unwell, I told them that, for 
these reasons, I would defer it till the next Sab- 
bath. While thus putting it off, I noticed a bright 
little boy, sitting near me, who seemed to look 
disappointed. He had expected to hear about 



Lect. 12] THE SABBATH. 225 

The school not tog-ether. 

the holy Sabbath. Oh, had I remembered how 
Christ taught the poor woman of Samaria, though 
he w 7 as weary and faint, should I not have done 
differently ? 

The next Sabbath came, and my school w r ere 
again coming together. On arriving at the house, 
instead of finding them all quiet in their seats, as 
usual, I found them grouped around the door, 
some sobbing, others looking frightened — all si- 
lent. On inquiry, they told me that " little 

Lewis had just been killed by the mill ! " 

This was all they knew about it. At the head of 
my little flock, I hastened to the house where the 
little boy lived. At the door I was met by the 
father of the child, wringing his hands, his face 
red and swollen, his eyes sunken and glaring, and 
his breath loaded with the fumes of ardent spirits. 

" Oh," cried the man, "I might have know r n 
it. I might have know r n it all ! " 

" Mi^ht have known w r hat, sir ? " 
15 



226 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

The foolish superstition. 

" Oh. I might have known that to-day one of 
my family must go ; but I did not think, could 
not think, it must be my youngest boy ! " 

"Pray, how might you have known that one 
must die to-day ? M 

" Why, when I came home last evening, old 
Rover" (pointing to a stupid old dog that lay 
crouched under the table) " sat on the door-steps, 
with his face to the east, howling, and howling. 
I knew then some one — or I might have known 
that some one — must go to-day, but did not think 
it must be poor little Lewis ! " 

" Do you believe there is a God ? " 

" Oh, yes, have no doubt of it." 

"And do you suppose he reveals events to a 
dog, a creature w T ithout a soul, and without rea- 
son, which he does not reveal to the wisest of 
men ? Nothing is more common than for a dog 
to howl when his master is gone, and he feels 
lonely ; and as to his face being towards the east, 



Lect. 12.] THE SABBATH. 227 

What makes a man stupid. The corpse. 

1 see nothing strange in that, since your house 
faces the east." 

"Ah, you may say so; but I might have 
known it would come," — and again he turned 
away to sob, and I fear to drink, and then wonder 
over his being more stupid than his dog. 

I led my scholars into the room. They seemed 
to breathe only from the top of their lungs. I 
lifted up the white napkin, and there was little 
Lewis — a mangled corpse ! The children were 
all hushed as we gazed. The little girls covered 
their faces with their handkerchiefs and aprons. 
The little boys wiped their eyes with their hands 
and with the sleeves of their jackets. 

For some weeks, it had been very dry, and the 
streams had become low. But during the pre- 
ceding day and night, a heavy rain had fallen. A 
mill, on a small stream near by, which had stood 
still for some time for want of water, was set a- 
going early on Sabbath morning. I need not ask 
if the miller feared God. 



228 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 

Mill going- on the Sabbath. Little boy crushed by the wheel. 

About an hour before the Sabbath School usu- 
ally came together, little Lewis went down to the 
mill-stream to bathe. The poor boy had never 
seen his parents keep the Sabbath holy. He 
swam out into the stream. The current was 
strong — too strong for him — he raised the cry of 
distress — the miller heard him and saw him, but 
was too much frightened to do any thing. The 
current swept along — the little boy struggled — 
again cried for help — the waters rushed on — he 
was sucked down under the gate — the great mill- 
wheel rolled round — crash ! — he w T as in a moment 
crushed and dead! Scarcely had his last cry 
reached the ears of the miller, before his mangled 
corpse came out from under the wheel. It was 
the same little boy who had looked so disappointed 
on the last Sabbath, because I omitted to talk about 
the holy Sabbath. 

While standing beside the lifeless clay of this 
fair child, with all the children about me, my 



Lect. 12.] THE SABBATH. 229 

Sad thoughts. Scene remembered. 

feelings were awful indeed. It seemed as if ev- 
ery child would cry out, " Oh, had you kept your 
word, and told us about breaking the Sabbath, he 
would not have gone into the water — he would 
not have lain there dead.' 5 It seemed as if the 
lips, though sealed by the hand of death, would 
open and reproach me. " Had I not put off my 
duty, probably this life would have been saved — 
perhaps an undying soul would have been saved 
from the guilt of being the everlasting enemy of 
God. What sacrifices would I not make, could 
that child once more come into my Sabbath 
School ! " Such w r ere my thoughts. I have never 
been able to look back upon that scene without 
keen anguish. I have sometimes mentioned it to 
Sabbath School teachers, and, by it, urged them 
never to put off till the next Sabbath any duty 
which can be performed on this. And since 1 
have been a minister, when I have felt weary and 
feeble, and tempted to put off some duty to a 



230 THE SABBATH. [Lect. 12. 



Instruction. Poetry. 



more convenient season, I have recalled that 
scene to my mind ; and truly thankful shall I 
feel in the great judgment day, if you, my dear 
children, will learn from this simple story two 

things. 

1 . To remember and keep holy the Sabbath 
day. Had that dear child only obeyed this one 
short text, he would not have been called to the 
presence of God while in the very act of sin. 

" This day belongs to God alone ; 
He makes the Sabbath for his own ; 
And we must neither work nor play 
Upon God's holy Sabbath day. 

'Tis well to have one day in seven, 
That we may learn the way to heaven ; 
Or else we never should have thought 
About his worship as we ought. 

And every Sabbath should be passed 
As if we knew it were our last ; 
For what would dying people give 
To have one Sabbath more to live ! " 



Lect. 12.] THE SABBATH. 23 1 

Conclusion. 

2. Never to put off any duty, or any opportu- 
nity to do good, because you do not feel like 
doing it now. You may never have the opportu- 
nity again. 

Should you live and grow up, I have no doubt 
but you will be prospered and happy, that you 
will be respected and useful, very much as you 
keep the Sabbath. God will honor those who 
honor him. He does not ask us even to open the 
doors of his house for nothing ; no, he will repay 
us in this life, and in the life to come, with ever- 
lasting blessings. May all these great rewards 
be yours, my dear children, by your keeping his 
commandments. Amen. 



232 



LECTURE XIII. 

THE GRAVE LOSING ITS VICTORY. 

O grave, where is thy victory ? — I Cor. 15. 55. 

Contents. — Vapor of morning. Garden flowers. What is a buoy? The 
drowning man clinging to the buoy. Morning after the storm. Who must 
die. The twins. Beautiful poetry. Who can die happy ? My sister's 
grave — and the two little boys. Reflections in a grave-yard. The soul 
lives after the body dies. The humming-bird. The island. The adven- 
turer — his return — his tidings — his death. Meaning of the story. The 
Christian's death. Angels' conversation. Beautiful description of heaven. 
Conclusion. 

The Bible, my dear children, talks a great 
deal about the shortness of our lives. Did you 
ever get up in some October morning, and see a 
thick vapor or fog hanging over the wide mead- 
ows and fields ? You could not see a man, or 
even a great tree, at a little distance, the fog was 
so thick. But go out a few hours afterwards, 
when the sun is up, and where is all this vapor 
gone ? It is all melted away, and has left no 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 233 

Garden flowers. 

mark on any thing. Such, the Bible says, is 
the life of man. You may look upon a great 
congregation to-day, and see the street full of 
people, and in a few short years they are all gone 
— and forgotten, like the vapor. 

Did you ever walk along the street, and stop 
and look into a garden, and admire the beautiful 
flowers which were waving in rows each side of 
the alley ? I presume you have. What colors ! 
How many kinds ! See that tulip — that pink- — 
that rose ! How beautiful ! But wait a few 
short months, and then stop there again. Where 
now are those flowers ? All faded and gone ; all 
dead and passed away. Just so, says the Bible, 
do we all, even the fairest among men, die and 
pass away as the flower. 

Now, why do men all die ? Do they wish to 
die ? No, far from it. Let any man be sick, and 
be in danger of dying, and what will he not do, 
rather than die ? Why, he will swallow as much 



234 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

What is a buoy ? 

bitter, disgusting medicine as the doctor wishes 
him to. He will let him cut off his arm or his 
leg, or cut out his eye, — or do any thing, if he 
may only live. Men had rather do any thing than 
die. For the most part, they are unwilling even 
to think of death, and contrive to think of ten 
thousand things rather than that. 

Do you know what a buoy is ? 1 will tell you. 
When a river runs into the sea, the bed in which 
it runs along is called the channel ; and at the 
place where it goes into the sea, the water is 
deeper in the channel than any where else; so 
that, when vessels would go up a river from the 
great sea, they try to keep in the chaunel, so as 
to be in deep water. But how shall they know 
where the channel is ? In this way. The peo- 
ple who know where the channel is, take a great 
stone, and tie a rope to it, and let it sink just in 
the middle of the channel. At the other end of 
the rope is a large, round, pine stick, or log, tied. 



Lect. 13.1 THE GRAVE. 235 

The drowning- man clinging to the buoy. 

This log floats upon the water, and is held in its 
place by the stone at the bottom. Well, this log 
is called a buoy, and the sailors steer just along- 
side of the buoys, when they would go safe. 

During an awfully stormy day, a vessel was 
seen coming towards the shore. The men could 
not manage her. The people on shore saw her, 
but could do nothing. There were some great 
rocks out from the shore, a mile or two ; and on- 
ward she drove towards those rocks. Soon she 
was on them — dash — and was split all in pieces. 
The people on shore could see it all, but had no 
life-boat, nor any means by which to help them. 
Were the poor sailors all drowned ? No, — there 
was one poor fellow who floated awhile. They 
watch him. All the rest are gone. Now he tries 
to swim a little. There ! he has caught hold of 
a buoy, and clings to it for life. O, if they could 
only get to him ! but they cannot. There he 
hangs, and rises and falls on each wave — still 



236 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

Morning" after the storm. 

clinging to the buoy. Is he willing to die ? No, 
he would hang there years, if he could, rather 
than to die. And now it is night ; the sun goes 
down ; the darkness begins to come over the dark 
waters ; and the people sigh, and begin to go home, 
leaving the poor sailor still holding on to the buoy 
for his life. One by one they go away, and then 
turn, and turn round again, to see if they can see 
him. The last man now goes : it is dark, and 
he turns and looks. Can he see the buoy and the 
man ? No ! — yes, yes, he is still there ! They 
go to their homes ; they pray for that poor sailor ; 
they dream about him ; they think much of him. 
The morning comes. The sun rises fair, and the 
people had hastened down as soon as the light 
broke in the east, to see if the poor man was 
there. The storm had gone past, and the buoy 
was still floating there. But where was the sail- 
or ? Ah, he was gone, gone to the bottom, and 
will be seen no more till the resurrection day. 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 237 



Who must die ? 



Is it not plain, that we know that every body 
dreads to die? Why, then, must every body die ? 
The Bible tells us, " Death hath passed upon all 
men, in that all have sinned." Yes, all are sin- 
ners, and must therefore die. The old, gray- 
headed man must soon go. Death will not re- 
spect his silver locks. He will put him in the 
grave. The man in middle-life is cut down, too, 
though wife and children may weep and pray 
against it. The fair youth and the sweet child 
are not spared ; and I think I have never had my 
heart more affected, than when called to attend 
the funeral of children. I have seen them in the 
coffin, when they looked so fair and beautiful, that 
it seemed hard to bury them up in the ground. 
The beautiful lines which I am now about to 
read you, very accurately describe what ministers 
must often see. They describe two little twin 
babes, dead, and in the coffin, and the mother 
bending over it, and looking upon them through 
her tears. 



238 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

The twins. Beautiful poetry. 

'* 'Twas summer, and a Sabbath eve, 
And balmy was the air : 
I saw a sight which made me grieve — 

And yet the sight was fair — 
Within a little coffin lay 
Two lifeless babes, as sweet as May. 

Like waxen dolls, which infants dress, 

Their little bodies were ; 
A look of placid happiness 

Did on each face appear. 
And in the coffin, short and wide, 
They lay together, side by side. 

A rose-bud, nearly closed, I found 

Each little hand within, 
And many a pink was strewed around, 

With sprigs of jessamine ; 
And yet the flowers that round them lay 
Were not to me more fair than they. 

Their mother, as a lily pale, 

Sat by them on a bed, 
And, bending o'er them, told her tale, 

And many a tear she shed ; 
Yet oft she cried, amidst her pain, 
4 My babes and I shall meet again ! " " 



Lect. 13.J THE GRAVE 239 

Who can die happy ? 

Do you know what it was that gave comfort 
to this weeping mother, as she saw her dear twin 
babes in the coffin ? It was the hope of the gos- 
pel ; — hope, that Jesus Christ would watch over 
them in the grave, and at last raise them from the 
long sleep of death, and that she would be allcgred 
to meet them again in heaven, to part from ifsln 
no more. Yes, the gospel of Christ gives us that 
blessed hope. "I heard a voice from heaven 
saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the 
Lord ; yea, saith the Spirit, from henceforth, for 
they rest from their labors, and their works do 
follow them." For this reason, we cannot go and 
stand by the grave of a Christian, without having 
hope spring up in the breast. It may be the 
grave of some dear friend ; but if he died a Chris- 
tian, we feel that Christ w T ill one day come to 
that grave, and awake his sleeping disciple. 

A short time since, just at sunset, on a sum- 
mer's day, 1 went to the grave of a dear sister of 



240 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

My sister's grave— and the two little boys. 

mine. Her two little boys went with me. When 
we had arrived there, I saw four little rose-bushes 
standing, two at the head and two at the foot of 
the grave, bending over, as if to meet and hang 
over the grave. 

" That is her grave — our mother's grave," said 
one of the boys. 

" And those rose-bushes" — said I, as the tears 
started in my eyes,- — 

" Those," said the eldest, "brother and I, and 
father, set out soon after she was laid there. 
Those two at the head she planted in the garden 
herself, and we took them up, and set them there, 
and call them " mother's bushes." 

"And what do you remember about your 
dear mother, my boys ? " 

" Oh, every thing." 

" What, in particular ? " 

" Oh 9 this, uncle, that there never was a day since 
I can remember ', in ivhich she did not take us to her 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 241 

Reflections in a grave-yard. 

closet, and pray with us, unless she was sick on 
the bed!" 

Never did that sister seem so dear to me as at 
that moment ; and never did my heart feel so full 
a hope in the words which were engraved on the 
tomb-stone — 

"No mortal woes 
Can reach the peaceful sleeper here, 
While angels watch her soft repose." 

Dear children, you and I must die, because we 
are sinners. And every grave that is dug and 
filled up, is a new monument to show that men 
are all sinners. Men sometimes are so foolish as 
to deny that there ever was a flood, which drown- 
ed all the world in a few days; but they cannot 
deny that death now sweeps off the whole world 
once in about thirty years. Go to that grave- 
yard yonder. How full of graves ! You tread 
on some sleeper at every step. " Who slew all 
these ? " Suppose you should go to a great pris- 
16 



242 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13 

Reflections in a grave-yard. 

on, full of little cells, and every cell had a pris- 
oner chained in it, and the number was as great 
as the number of graves in that grave-yard. 
Would you not think to yourself, " Here must be 
a great deal of guilt and sin, in order to fill all 
these cells ? " And the grave-yard is the prison- 
house where God has confined so many prisoners. 
There is no grave in heaven, and there never 
would have been one on earth, had it not been 
for sin. 

What a beautiful piece of workmanship is de- 
stroyed when one of these children die ! The 
hands hang motionless ; the bright eye is closed 
and dull in darkness ; the fresh cheek is pale and 
cold ; the tongue is silent ; and the whole body, 
like a broken vessel, is in ruins. But we may re- 
joice that the disciple of Christ may go shouting 
into the grave, " O grave, where is thy victory ? " 
Christ himself has been in it, and sanctified it, and 
blessed it. Besides, the grave can only receive 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 243 

The soul lives after the body dies. The humming-bird. 

and claim the poorer part of us. It only takes 
the body ; while the soul, the immortal part, es- 
capes its power. You know you can seem to see 
things when the eye is shut, and you dream of 
things when asleep. And so the soul can live, 
and think, and act, when the body is in the grave. 
Yon will sleep in the grave a long, long time, but 
not always. God can, and will raise up the body 
again. He is able. Do you see that beautiful 
little humming-bird dancing from flower to flower, 
like a spirit of flowers ? He was once confined 
to the little mummy shell ; but God brought him 
out. See that looking-glass : how perfectly you 
can see your face and form, and every hair on 
your forehead in it ! But had you seen the coarse 
sand lie on the sea-shore, before the workmen 
began, would you think that they could make 
such a thing from that sand ? So God will raise 
us up from the grave by his wisdom and power. 
Oh, how much do we owe to Jesus Christ! 



244 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

The island. 

At the opening of every grave I seem to hear 
the angel say, " Come, see the place where the 
Lord lay." Let me show you what Christ has 
done here for us. 

Suppose we lived upon a great island, entirely 
surrounded by the great waters. As we looked, 
we could see nothing but the waters and the sky. 
We had no ships with which to go away ; and 
there we all lived. We had farms, and shops, 
and stores, and things just as we now have, with 
no difference, except we were on an island. 
One thing more. Every few days, there came a 
great ship to our island, and the men landed and 
caught our neighbors and friends, and carried them 
to the ship, and sailed away, out of sight ; in a 
few days, another ship, and another ; and so con- 
tinually they came, and carried off old and young, 
friends and neighbors, and we knew nothing 
what became of them. We wept, and mourned, 
and feared for ourselves, but we knew not what 



^?:V\_. ^->^> 




Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 247 

The adventurer. His return. 

to do. At length, we see a man rush suddenly 
down to the shore with a little vessel, which he 
has built himself at his own expense. He jumps 
into it alone, and spreads his little sails, and goes 
off on the great ocean, following those awful 
ships, to see what has become of our friends. 
We watch the poor, frail boat till it is out of 
sight, wondering if he will ever come to us again. 
In the mean time, the dark, dreadful ships con- 
tinue to come and catch away our friends. We 
look out, and wonder what has become of our dear 
friend in his boat ; for he told us, that, if he found 
our friends who had been carried off, he would 
come back to us, with a white flag at the top of 
his mast. At length, the boat comes in sight! 
Yes, there she comes, and the white flag stream- 
ing at mast-head ! Yes, he has found our friends ! 
The crowds all rush down to the water-edge to 
hear his tidings. The little vessel comes to the 
shore, and our friend leaps out on the land. We cry 



248 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

His tidings. 

out, " What news ? What tidings of our friends ? 
Have you found them ? " 

"Yes, I have found them." 

"Are they alive ? " 

"Yes, all alive. 5 ' 

"Are they happy? What are they doing?" 

" Oh, they are all carried to a distant country, 
by the king's ships. When they get there, they 
are put to a kind of trial, and those who can bear 
that trial well, are made honorable, and happy, 
and have most delightful homes, and would not 
come back here for a world. While those who 
cannot bear the trial, are sent away to the deserts, 
and are wretched." 

" But will the ships come any more ? " 

"Yes, they will come again, and again, and 
carry you all off. But you may all fit yourselves 
for the trial ; and then you will be very happy, and 
need not fear to go." 

" B ut what ? How can we fit ourselves ? What 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 249 

His death. Meaning of the story. 

shall we do ? Oh, tell us quickly, for the ships 
may be here before we are ready." 

"I cannot tell you now. I am dying with 
fatigue. Here, do you see this book which I take 
out of my bosom ? This tells you all what and 
how to do. It is plain, and full of instruction. 
Obey it, and you will all be happy. See, because 
I could do no other way, I opened my own veins, 
and have written it with my own blood, and the 
blood came directly from my heart before I had 
finished it. Oh, take it, as the last and best 
pledge of my love." 

He ceases to speak, and, worn out with fatigue, 
he drops down dead on the spot! Oh, what a 
friend ! — and what a book that must be ! 

You understand me, do you not ? We are on 
the island ; and diseases are the dreadful ships 
which come and carry us off; and eternity is that 
distant world where we are carried ; and Christ is 
that dear friend who went through the grave into 



250 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

Meaning of the story. 

eternity ; and the Bible is the book which he has 
written for us, to prepare us for our trial at the 
great judgment; and he poured out his soul unto 
death in thus preparing us to go into eternity and 
live in happiness. What a friend do those reject and 
despise, who do not love Jesus Christ ! What a 
book do those neglect, who live from day to day 
without reading or thinking about the Bible ! 

All will come up from the grave at once, but 
not all to share alike. Just so the chief butler 
and the chief baker were both let out of the pris- 
on at the same time, the one to be honored, and 
the other to be hanged. "Marvel not at this; 
for the hour is coming in which all that are in 
their graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
forth ; they that have done good, unto the resur- 
rection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto 
the resurrection of damnation." The grave has 
been called the dressing-chamber, in w r hich good 
people put on their beautiful garments, in which 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 251 

The Christian's death. 

to arise and meet the Lord in the air. But to the 
wicked and the unholy, it is the prisoner's cell, in 
which he is shut up, till led forth to execution. 

When Christians die, the angels of God come 
and lead them up to glory, while the body rests 
and is purified in the grave. " There," say they, 
" is Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, the innu- 
merable company of angels, and the spirits of just 
men made perfect. You are going now," say they, 
" to the Paradise of God, wherein you shall see the 
Tree of Life, and eat of the never-fading fruits 
thereof; and when you come there, you shall have 
white robes given you, and your walk and talk 
shall be every day with the King, even all the days 
of eternity. There shall you not see again such 
things as you saw when you were in the lower 
region upon the earth, to wit, sorrow, sickness, 
affliction, and death, 'for the former things have 
passed away. 5 You are going now to Abraham, 
to Isaac, to Jacob, and to the prophets, men that 



252 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 



Angels' conversation. 



God hath taken away from the evil to come, and 
that are now ' resting upon their beds, each one 
walking in his righteousness. 5 

" What must we do in the holy place ? M 
" You must there receive the comforts of all 
your toil, and have joy for all your sorrow; you 
must reap what you have sown, even the fruit of 
all your prayers, and tears, and sufferings for the 
King, by the way. In that place, you must wear 
crowns of gold, and enjoy the perpetual sight and 
vision of the Holy One ; for there ' you shall see 
him as he is.' There, also, you must serve him 
continually with praise, with shouting, and 
thanksgiving, whom you desired to serve in the 
world, though with much difficulty, because of 
the infirmity of your flesh. There your eyes shall 
be delighted with seeing, and your ears with 
hearing the pleasant voice of the Almighty One. 
There you shall enjoy your friends again, that are 
gone thither before you ; and there you shall with 



Lect. 13.] THE GRAVE. 253 

Beautiful description of heaven. 

joy receive even every one that follows into the 
holy places after you. There, also, you shall be 
clothed with glory and majesty, and put into an 
equipage fit to ride out with the King of Glory. 
When he shall come with sound of trumpet in the 
clouds, as upon the wings of the wind, you shall 
come with him ; and when he shall sit upon the 
throne of judgment, you shall sit by him : yea, 
and when he shall pass sentence upon all the 
workers of iniquity, let them be angels or men, 
you shall also have a voice in that judgment, 
because they were his and your enemies. And 
when he shall again return to the city, you shall 
go too, with sound of trumpet, and be ever with 
him." 

Such, my dear children, will be the glory of 
every one who obeys God and loves the Redeem- 
er ; and such your glory, when you come up from 
the grave, if you obey God. I must now take my 
leave of you. Many of you, who read these lines, 



254 THE GRAVE. [Lect. 13. 

Conclusion of the Lecture. 

I shall never know, and never see, till the great 
day of judgment. Oh, if one of you shall be 
made wise unto eternal life by this Lecture, I 
shall have more joy when we meet, than if I had 
been able to give you a kingdom. Do not put oft 
religion till you are old. You may die within a 
week. Seek the Saviour while he may be found. 
Call upon him while he is near. Read his word. 
Obey his voice. Commit yourself, each of you, 
to his hands. Then the grave will only be a 
place to sleep in, while God prepares for you a 
house not made with hands, an everlasting man- 
sion of glory — eternal in the heavens. Amen. 



255 



LECTURE XIV. 

HEAVEN. 

In the beginning God created the heaven. — Genesis 1. 1. 

Contents. — Shape of the earth. Inside of the world. High chimneys. 
Creating and forming things. Light first made. The three heavens. First 
heaven. Second and third heavens. Guiding the stars. Idea of the third 
heaven. Beautiful things. What a throne will be. Society of heaven. 
How they look in heaven. Why the beautiful things of earth not to be 
saved. Our friends. Is heaven a place ? 

You know, children, that the earth is round, 
like an orange. If jou were to make a hole 
through an orange, and then measure the length 
of that hole, you would find it took three times 
that length to reach round the orange. And 
were a hole dug straight through the earth, it 
would take three times the length of that hole 
to reach round the earth. Suppose such a hole 
dug through the earth, and you could walk 
through it, going a mile every day, how long do 
you think it would take you to get through ? It 



256 HEAVEN. [Lect. 14. 

Inside of the world. High chimneys. 

would take you eight thousand days, which is 
almost twenty-two years. And it would take 
you over sixty years to walk round the world, 
going at the same rate. What a great world ! 
And what do you suppose we should find away 
down in the earth ? I suppose rocks and stones, 
and some great rivers, and a great deal of fire ! 
A great deal of fire, say you ? Yes, a great deal 
of fire, and it is the heaving of this fire which 
makes earthquakes, and it is this which makes 
volcanoes. Volcanoes are always in the tops of 
very high mountains, which seem to be a kind of 
chimney, through which these great fires send 
out their belchings and flames. One of these 
openings which I call chimneys, on the top of a 
high mountain on the Sandwich Islands, is ten 
miles across. What a chimney, to be ten miles 
across its top ! And a few years ago it sent out 
a river of fire which ran down the mountain two 
miles wide and forty miles long before it reached 



Lect. 14.] HEAVEN. 257 

Creating and forming things. 

the sea, when it plunged into the great ocean. 
What fires, then, must there be inside of the 
earth ! And how easy for God to make these 
fires burn up the world at the last day, as he has 
said in 2 Peter 3. 10 : "But the day of the 
Lord will come as a thief in the night ; in the 
which the heavens shall pass away with a great 
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat ; the earth also, and the works that are there- 
in, shall be burned up." 

Men can form things, but they cannot create. 
They can dig up some ore and make it into the 
wheels of the watch, or into the little springs 
which keep the watch agoing. They can take 
some coarse, heavy sand, into which you cannot 
look and see a pin, if it were buried ever so little 
way, and they can melt this sand and make it 
into the pure clear glass which you see in these 
windows, and through which you can see almost 
as well as if there was no glass there. Men can 

17 



258 HEAVEN. [Lect. 14. 

Light made. 

dig up the different kinds of earth and burn them, 
and make them into the beautiful colors with 
which they paint the faces of men, the trees, the 
waters, or any thing they please. But, though 
we can change and fashion things, and make 
them curious and useful, we cannot create any 
thing out of nothing. But this is what God did 
w r hen he created worlds. He formed them out 
of nothing. He made the light, but he had no 
sun or any thing else to help him do it. He cre- 
ated the world and the heavens, but he made 
them out of nothing. How could he do it ? He 
said, " Let there be light, and there was light." 
" He spake, and it was done; He commanded, 
and it stood fast." (Psalm 33. 9.) 

1 am now going to talk about that part of God's 
works which are called the heavens. " In the 
beginning God created the heaven." 

Do you recollect that the Bible speaks of three 
heavens ? In Daniel we are told that the angel 



Lect. 14] HEAVEN. 259 

The three heavens. 

came from God or the third heaven. (Dan. 9. 21.) 
And Paul tells us (2 Cor. 12. 2) that he was once 
caught up to the third heaven. Can I make you 
understand what it means when the Bible speaks 
of three heavens ? Let me try. You know the 
birds can fly in the air, and the clouds sail in it, 
and the rain, the dews, and the snows come down 
out of it. Well, this air is called the heavens. 
Thus we read of the dews of heaven, the rains 
of heaven, the clouds of heaven, and the storms 
of heaven. This is the first heaven. Then 
above this, far above all this, is the region where 
the sun and the moon and the stars are. This is 
the second heaven. " The heavens declare the 
glory of God, and the firmament showeth his 
handiwork." (Psalm 19. 1.) And then beyond 
all this is the place where God and the angels 
live ; and that is what is meant by the third 
heaven, or, as it is sometimes called, the heaven 
of heavens. (Psalm 148. 4 ; 1 Kings 8. 27.) 



260 HEAVEN. [Lect. 14. 

First heaven. Third heaven. Guiding the stars. 

Thus the first heaven is close to us. We 
breathe its air. Our birds sing while in it, and 
our clouds drop the rain out of it. The second 
heaven contains the sun, moon, and stars, and 
worlds which we see with the glass which we call 
the telescope ; but we cannot get to it or visit it. 
The third is what our eye cannot see. It is the 
place to which Enoch, who walked with God, 
was taken ; where Elijah was carried in the cha- 
riot of fire (2 Kings 2. 71); where Christ is 
gone and where the saints who arose at his res- 
urrection have gone (Matt. 27. 52). 

How wonderful it is that the sun and moon 
and stars should all be moving and shining, and 
yet never meet or jar ! And sometimes the fiery 
comet comes blazing up through the sky, with his 
long trail of light ; but God guides him on his 
way, and he never runs against any other world. 
What a wonder it is to look out on a bright even- 
ing, and see all the stars shining out in their glory, 



Lect. 14] HEAVEN. 261 

Idea of the third heaven. 

so many worlds ! No wonder David says, " When 
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, 
the moon and the stars which thou hast ordained, 
what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the 
son of man that thou visitest him ? " (Psalm 8. 
3, 4.) But what shall I say of the third heaven, 
where God resides? Who can describe it? Who 
can tell how it looks ? You know what I mean 
when I compare one thing with another* A tree 
may look very high, but if you were on the top 
of a high mountain and were to compare that tree 
to the mountain, it would look like a small bush. 
You might call a man handsome, but if you were 
to compare him with the angels who, John says, 
were in the tomb of Christ (John 20. 12), you 
would not think him handsome. So we judge of 
heaven by comparison. We compare it with this 
world. What would you say should you see God 
creating a mantle most beautiful and large enough 
to cover all the earth ? He has created such a 
mantle. It is called light. 



262 HEAVEN. [Lect. 14. 

Beautiful things. What a throne will be. 

You have seen the dewdrops hang on the 
grass and the flowers, like diamonds in the morn- 
ing sun, have you not? You have seen the sweet 
flowers all painted by the hand of God, and hung 
in clusters on the trees. You have seen the gold 
and purple with which he tinges the morning and 
the evening sky, now turning the clouds into sil- 
ver and gold. And how brightly and beautifully 
do the stars look down upon us as they hang over 
our heads ! What beautiful creatures fly in the 
air, and swim in the sea, and what gorgeous shells 
lie on the bottom of the ocean ! But this is only 
the footstool of God, as he calls it. And so we 
can have an idea of what heaven must be, by 
comparing a footstool with a throne. What a 
light must that be which comes not from the sun, 
nor from the moon, nor from the candle, but di- 
rectly from the Father of lights? If in this world 
there are so many beautiful things, what will it 
be there ? 



Lect. 1-4.] HEAVEN. 263 

Society of heaven. 

" If so much loveliness is sent 
To grace our earthly home, 
How beautiful ! how beautiful 
Will be the world to come ! " 

You remember, too, that Peter tells us that this 
world is to be burned up, to be destroyed. It is 
not designed to be any thing more than a kind ol 
bridge over which men walk from time into eter- 
nity ; and when it has served its purpose, the old 
bridge will be taken down. But heaven is never 
to change. It is never to be burned up, and so 
God has made it beautiful and glorious. It is the 
home of all his great family, — the family mansion, 
— and will it not be beautiful ? We know that the 
tree of life is there, and we know that the river 
of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and 
the Lamb, is there. The place is called the Par- 
adise of God, because that garden on earth was 
so beautiful. But one thing which makes heaven 
so delightful a place is the people who live there. 



264 HEAVEN. [Lect. 14. 

How they look in heaven. 

The angels have their home there. Enoch is 
there. Moses is there, and his face shines brighter 
than when he came down from the mountain. 
(Exodus 34. 35.) Job is there, and his riches will 
never again be taken from him, for he has in 
heaven a better and an enduring substance. Da- 
vid is there, with a harp that makes new mel- 
ody and new sweetness for ever. What a change 
must there be in Lazarus, who once lay among 
the dogs at the gate of the rich man ! What a 
change has passed over Paul since he lay in the 
dungeon, — an old man about to be put to death ! 
Heaven is the city to which all the paths in 
which good men have walked lead. Is it any 
wonder that God has made its walls of precious 
stones, its gates of pearl, and its streets of pure 
gold ? All the hopes, desires, and prayers and 
praises of the holy family of God centre and ter- 
minate in heaven, and it is to be beautiful enough 
to meet the expectations of all. We cannot, to 



Lect. 14.] HEAVEN. 265 

Why the beautiful things of earth not to be saved. 

be sure, tell what eye hath not seen, nor ear 
heard, nor the heart ever thought of; but we can 
see that a world where there has been no sin, no 
clouds, no graves, and no death, and which is in- 
tended to be the best of all God's works, must be 
beautiful. The waters which come leaping down 
our mountain-sides we call sweet and clear ; the 
air which rocks our trees we call pure ; the flow- 
ers which grow in our gardens we call beautiful ; 
the fruits which hang on our trees we call pleas- 
ant ; and the buildings which men can rear we 
call splendid ; but God thinks he can spare all 
these, and burn them up, and jet have enough 
left in heaven to make all his friends contented 
and happy for ever! Those who have died in the 
Lord are there, I know that the gray-headed 
old man is there, and the praying mother is there, 
and the brother who loved Christ in his youth is 
there, and the sister who gave her heart to God 
in her early days is there, and I know that the 



266 HEAVEN. [Lect. 14. 

Our friends. Is heaven a place ? 

little child is there, perfecting the praise of God. 
There the Christian has become an angel, and 
there the babe has become a cherub, and yet I 
cannot describe heaven. I cannot begin to de- 
scribe that. 

Is heaven a place, or a kind of shadowy land ? 
I reply, it is a place, as much so as this world is a 
place. Enoch is there, who went to heaven with- 
out dying. So is Elijah, who was carried to 
heaven in a chariot of fire. So is Jesus Christ, 
and the saints who arose with him at his resur- 
rection. They will have hands and feet and eyes, 
as we now have, and the world in which they 
live must be a real place. Over it will hang a 
fairer sky, purer air, more beautiful light, and all 
around will be spread new and beautiful sights. 
Who but God could create such a world ! O, it 
will be every way worthy of him ! 

And now, my dear children, will you not desire 
to live so as to go to this heaven when you leave 



Lect. 14.] HEAVEN. 267 

Is heaven a place 1 

this world ? Do you wish that you may there 
meet the angels and the great and the good who 
have left this world ? Ah ! if you may but do 
that, you will find all the heart can desire, to be 
your portion for ever. In order to do that, you 
must remember now your Creator in the days of 
your youth. Seek the Lord while he may be 
found ; call upon him while he is near. Make 
God your Father by obeying him, loving and 
trusting in his Son, Jesus Christ, and then this 
Father will take you to his beautiful home, to 
dwell with him for ever and ever. Amen. 



THE END. 



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